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AIDS  TO  REFL.ECTION, 


IJV  THE 

FORMATION  OF  A  MANLY  CHARACTER, 

ON  THE  SEVERAL  GROUNDS  OF 

PRUDENCE,   MORALITY,   AND   RELIGION: 

ILLUSTRATED  BY 

SELECT  PASSAGES  FROM  OUR  ELDER  DIVINES,  ESPECIALLY 
FROM  ARCHBISHOP  LEIGHTON. 


BY  S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


FIRST  AMERICAN,  FROM  THE  FIRST  LONDON  EDITION  ; 

WITH  AN  APPENDIX,  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  OTHER  WORKS  OF  THE    SAME 

AUTHOR ;    TOGETHER  WITH  A 

PRELIMINARY  ESSAY,  AND  ADDITIONAL  NOTES, 


BY    JAMES   MARSH, 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VERMONT. 


BURLINGTON: 

CHAUNCEY     GOODRICH 
M  ^  C  C  C  \  M  \  . 


DISTRICT  OF  VERMONT,  TO  WIT: 

I  BE  it  remembered,  that  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  Oc- 
tober, in  the  fifty-fouith  year  of  the  Independence  of  tlie 
United  States  of  America,  Chadncey  Goodrich,  of  the 
'said  District,  hath  deposited  in  this  office,  the  title  of  a  book, 
the  right  whereof  he  claims  as  proprietor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit : 
"  Aids  to  Re/lection,  in  the  fomiation  of  a  manly  character,  on  the  several 
grounds  of  prudence,  morality,  and  Religion ;  illustrated  by  select  passages 
from  the  elder  Divines,  especially  from  Archbishop  Leighton.  By  S.  T.  Cole- 
ridge. First  American,  from  the  first  London  edition ;  loith  an  Appendix  and 
Illustrations  from  other  fVorks  of  the  same  Author ;  together  ivith  a  Prelimina- 
ry Essay,  and  Additional  JVotes,  By  James  Marsh,  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont.^'' 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled 
"  An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of 
Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies, 
during  the  times  therein  mentioned." 

JESSE  GOVE, 
Clerk  of  the  District  of  Vermont. 
A  true  Copy  of  Record.    Examined  and  sealed  by  me. 

J.  GOVE,  CUrk. 


Chauncey  Goodrich,  Printer,  Burlington,  Vt. 


CONTENTS. 


0^ 


PAGE. 

Advertisement  by  the  American  Editor v 

Preliminary  Essay vii 

Advertisement  by  the  Author Iv 

Preface .  Ivii 

Introductory  Aphorisms i 

Prudential  Aphorisms .        .17 

Reflections  respecting  Morality 31^ 

Moral  and  Religious  Aphorisms             37 

Elements  of  Religious  Philosophy,  preliminary  to  the  Apho- 
risms on  Spiritual  Religion-                 85 

Aphorisms  on  Spiritual  Religion 55 

Aphorisms  on  that  which  is  IxNdeed  Spiritual  Religion    .        .  103 

Notes 252 

Appendix           .                 .        • 343 


auivog  avTLC  JOFI^ MO^ ,  Sixagtjg  aypvnroc  tavruv  yinTai.  JTr,  nctnt-^r^v  ;  Ti 
d'tQt^u  ;  y.ai  bv  ra^Jt  rrj  inrur^r  av(x).uy^uvwv  a^nr^c  inxa  utixliQwv  tuvruv  avfir- 
(pojvwg  roig  nQoy.tniivotg  Inoig  SiriVtQtvourra,  t>;?  dnug  tiipnoovrt^g  roig  yMOTiOi^ 
avaSti.  nuna  tii?.og  Ss  n  noacaiTu  (pv>f>uaag  luonfo  not  (paofiaxotc  ruig  ly.  T),5 
fiixavotag  \'Ov&iTriasaiv  tntgvipti. 

Hierodes,  as  quoted  hy  Renatus  Vcdlinus  in  notes  on  Boetkius. 

Neque  esse  mens  divina  sine  ratione  potest,  nee  ratio  dmna  non  lianc 
vim  in  rectis  pravisque  sanciendis  habere.  **  Erat  enim  ratio  profecta  a 
rerum  natura,  et  ad  recte  faciendum  impellens,  et  a  delicto  avocans  5  quae 
non  timi  denique  incipit  lex  esse,  cum  scripta  est,  sed  tum  cum  orta  est. 
Orta  autem  simul  est  cum  mente  divina. 

Cicero  de  Legibus,  Lib.  ii.  c.  4. 

Hardly  do  we  guess  aright  at  things  that  are  upon  earth,  and  with  la- 
bour do  we  find  the  things  that  are  at  hand ;  but  the  things  that  are  in 
heaven  who  hath  searched  out  ?  And  thy  counsel  who  hath  known, 
except  thou  give  wisdom,  and  send  thy  holy  spirit  from  above  ? 
For  so  the  ways  of  them  Avhich  lived  on  the  eaith  were  reformed,  and 
men  were  taught  the  things  that  are  pleasing  unto  thee,  and  were  saved 
through  wisdom.  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  ix.  IG,  17.  18. 


ADVERTISE  MEJVT. 


In  repiib]jsliing  the  "  Aids  to  Reflection,"  I  have  aimed  to   adapt  it,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  the  circumstances,  in  which  it  will  be  placed,  and  to  the 
wishes  of  those  readers  who  will  be  most  likely  to  seek  instruction  from 
the  work.     As  the  philosophical  views  of  the  author,  and   what  are  con- 
sidered his  peculiarities  of  thought  and  language,  are  less  knov\Ti,  and  his 
other  writings   less  accessible  here,  than  in  the  community  for  whicli  he 
wrote,  I  su})posed  it  might  increase  the  usefulness  of  an   edition  for  the 
American  public  to  connect  with  it  such  extracts  from  his  other  works,  as 
would  sei've  to  explain  his  language,  and  render  moie  intelligiWe  the  es- 
sential yu-jnciples  of  his  !?ystem.     Passages  selected  for  this  pui-jiose  will 
be  fomid  attached  to  many  of  the  author's  notes,  as  well  as  to  other  notes 
which  have  been  ad<led.    These  constitute  the  principal  addition  to  this 
])art  of  the  volume,  though  a  few  extracts  are  inserted  in  note  59  from 
Henry  More's  Philosophical  Works.     I  have  thrown  in    occasional   re- 
marks of  my  own,   and  in  a  few   instances  have  hazarded    my  thoughts 
more  at  large.     Notes  merely  exi)lanatory  could  not  be  multiplied  without 
compromising  my  respect  for  the  understanding  either  of  the  author  or  of 
the  reader.    I  am  persuaded,  moreover,  that  if  parts  of  the  work  are  found 
difficult  to  understand,  a  littl«  reflection  will  show  the  difficulty  to  be  in- 
herent in  the  subject,  and  such  as  could  not  be  removed  by  multiplying  il- 
lustrations.    No  language  and  no  illustration  can  help  the  reader  to  under- 
stand himself  without  the  labour  of  serious  and   persevering  re/lection.     I 
have  endeavoured  to   furnish,  however,  that  sort  of  help,  which  I  thought 
would  be  most  effectual  with  regard  to  the  views  of  the  author,  by  giving 
references,  in  the  notes  on  important  topics,  to  all  the  parts  of  the  work, 
where  the   same  topic  is  treated  of     The  notes  for   obvious  reasons  are 
thrown  together  after  the  text  of  the  work,  and  the  additions  which  have 
been  made  in   this  edition  are  so  designated,  as  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  original  notes  of  the  author.     An  Api)en{lix   is  added  consisting  of 
matter  which  it  was  thought  would  serve  the  same  })uii)ose  of  illustration 
with  the  notes,  and  otherwise  increase  the  usefulness  of  the  volume. 

The  Prelinfmary  Essay,  which  1  have  prefixed,  must  bo  allowed  for  the 
most  ])art  to  speak  for  itself.  The  views  which  it  exhibits  will  be  found,  1 
believe,  as  far  as  they  go,  nearly  coincident  with  the  system  of  tlie  author, 
as  my  chief  purpose  in  writing  it  has  been  to  draw  attention  to  the  au- 


VI  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

thor's  work.  I  have  aimed  aspecially,  botli  in  this  and  in  the  notes,  to 
awaken  the  minds  of  thinking  men  to  certain  great  and  all-important  dis- 
tinctions of  a  philosophical  nature,  which  the  author  has  exhibited,  as  it 
Hcems  to  me  witli  convincing  clearness,  both  in  this  and  in  his  other  works. 
I  might  perhaps  have  left  others  to  make  the  application  of  the  doctrines 
taught  in  the  work  to  the  opinions  and  discussions  now  prevailing  among 
ourselves,  had  I  not  believed  the  application  would  be  more  likely  than 
any  tiling  else  to  arouse  attention  to  the  doctrines  themselves.  If  in  ma- 
king it  I  shall  be  thought  to  have  spoken  too  freely,  I  hope  at  least  to  have 
the  credit  of  honest  intentions,  and  of  being  miinfluenced  by  any  con- 
siderations of  a  personal  nature. 

For  the  manner  in  which  the  text  of  the  work  was  made  up  the  rea- 
der must  of  course  be  referred  to  the  author's  advertisement.  I  have 
mentioned  it  for  the  purpose  of  adding,  that  however  disconnected  and 
miscellaneous  it  may  at  first  appear,  it  will  be  found  on  perusal  to  con- 
tain a  connected  train  of  discussions,  and  to  be  strictly  methodical 
in  its  anangement.  I  cannot  but  add  a  request,  that  the  author's  pre- 
face may  receive  a  far  more  attentive  perusal,  than  prefaces  are  generally 
favoured  with.  The  whole  work  will  be  found  partly  philosophical  and 
partly  rehgious,  or  rather  both  combined  in  one,  and  that  upon  a  princi- 
ple and  in  a  manner,  I  trust,  which  both  reason  and  rehgion  will  approve. 
"Naturam  hominis  banc  Deus  ipse  voluit,'  ut  duarum  rerum  cupidus 
et  appetens  esset — religionis  et  sapientise.  Sed  homines  ideo  falluntur, 
quod  aut  religionem  suscipiunt  omissa  sapientia  ;  aut  sapientiae  soli  stu- 
dent omissa   religione,  cum  alterum  sine  altero  esse  non  possit  verum." 

Lactantius  de  Falsa  Sapientia,  Lib.  III.  B.  11. 
The  whole  is  committed  to  the  candour  of  the    Christian  public  with 
the  hope  and  prayer,  that  it  may  i)romote  among   us  the  interests,  which 
cannot  be  long  separated  from  each  other,   of  sound  philosophy  and  of 
true  religion. 

JAMES  MARSH. 

University  of  f^erniont,  JVov.  l&h^  1829. 


PRELIMINARY  ESSAY. 


Whether  the  present  state  of  religious  feeling,  and  the 
prevailing  topics  of  theological  enquiry  among  us,  are  particu- 
larly favourable  to  the  success  of  the  work  herewith  offered  to 
the  public,  can  be  determined  onlj^  by  the  result.  The  ques- 
tion, however,  has  not  been  left  unconsidered  ;  and  however 
that  may  be,  it  is  not  a  work,  whose  value  depends  essentially 
uponjts  relation~tothe^passing  controversies  of  tjie  day.  Un- 
less I  ^i^trust  my  own  "leelings  ana  convictions  altogether,  I 
must  suppose,  that  for  some,  I  hope  for  many,  minds,  it  will 
have  ^  deep  and  enduring  interest.  Of  those  classes,  for 
whose  use  it  is  more  especially  designated  in  the  author's 
preface,  I  trust  there  are  many  also  in  this  country,  who  will 
justly  appreciate  the  objects  at  which  it  aims,  and  avail  them- 
selves of  its  instruction  and  assistance.  L  could  wish  it  might 
be  received,  by  all  who  concern  themselves  in  religious  inqui- 
ries and  instruction  especially,  in  the  spirit,  which  seems  to 
me  to  have  animated  its  great  and  admirable  author ;  and  I 
hesitate  not  to  say,  that  to  all  of  every  class,  who  shall  so  re- 
ceive it,  and  peruse  it  with  the  attention  and  thoughtfulness, 
which  it  demands  and  deserves,  it  will  be  found  by  experi- 
ence to  furnish  what  its  title  imports,  "Aids  to  Reflection" 
on  subjects,  upon  which  every  man  is  bound  to  reflect  deeply 
and  in  earnest. 

What  the  specific  objects  of  the  work  are,  and  for  whom  it 
is  written,  may  be  learned  in  few  words  from  the  preface  of 
the  author.  From  this  too,  it  will  be  seen  to  be  professedly 
didactic.  It  is  designed  to  aid  those,  who  wish  for  instruction, 
or  assistance  in  the  instruction  of  others.     The  plan  and  com- 


via  '  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

position  of  tiie  work  will  to  most  readers  probably  appear 
somewhat  anomalous;  but  reflection  upon  the  nature  of  the 
objects  aimed  at,  and  some  little  experience  of  its  results,  may 
convince  them,  that  the  method  adopted  is  not  without  its  ad- 
vantages. It  is  important  to  observe,  that  it  is  designed,  as  its 
general  characteristic,  to  aid  reflection,  and  for  the  most 
part  upon  subjects,  which  can  be  learned  and  understood  only 
by  the  exercise  of  reflection  in  the  strict  and  proper  sense  of 
that  term.  It  was  not  so  much  to  teach  a  speculative  system 
of  doctrines  built  upon  established  premises,  for  which  a  dif- 
ferent method  would  have  been  obviously  preferable,  as  to 
tiirn  the  mind  continually  back  upon  the  premises  themselves — 
upon  the  inherent  grounds  of  truth  and  error  in  its  own  being. 
The  only  way,  in  .which  it  is  possible  for  anyone  to  learn  the 
science  of  words,  which  is  one  of  the  objects  to  be  sought  iii 
the  present  work,  and  the  true  import  of  those  words  espe- 
cially, which  most  concern  us  as  rational  ^nd  accountable  be- 
ings, is  by  reflecting  upon,  and  bringing  forth  into  distinct  con- 
sciousness, those  mental  acts,  which  the  words  are  intended 
to  designate.  We  must  discover  and  distinctly  apprehend 
different  meanings,  before  we  can  appropriate  to  each  a  several 
word,  or  understand  the  words  so  appropriated  by  others.  Now 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  most  men,  and  even  a  large 
proportion  of  educated  men,  do  not  reflect  sufficiently  upon 
their  own  inward  being,  upon  the  constituent  laws  of  their 
own  understanding,  upon  the  mysterious  powers  and  agencies 
of  reason,  and  conscience,  and  will,  to  apprehend  with  much 
distinctness  the  objects  to  be  named,  or  of  course  to  refer  the 
names  with  correctness  to  their  several  objects.  Hence  the 
necessity  of  associating  the  study  of  words  with  the  study  of 
morals  and  religion ;  and  that  is  the  most  effectual  method  of 
instruction,  which  enables  the  teachei  most  especially  to  fix 
the  attention  upon  a  defmite  meaning,  that  is,  in  these  studies, 
upon  a  particular  act,  or  process,  or  law  of  the  mind — to  call  it 
into  distinct  coiisciousness,  and  assign  to  it  its  proper  name,  so 
that  the  name  shall  thenceforth  have  for  the  learner  a  distinct, 
definite,  and  intelligi1)le  sense.     To  impress  upon  the  reader 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  IX 

the  importance  of  this,  and  to  exemplify  it  in  the  particular 
subjects  taken  up  in  the  work,  is  a  leading  aim  of  the  author 
throughout;  and  it  is  obviously  the  only  possible  way  by  which 
we  can  arrive  at  any  satisfactory  and  conclusive  results  on  sub- 
jects of  philosophy,  morals,  and  religion.  The  first  principles, 
the  ultimate  grounds  of  these,  so  far  as  they  are  possible  objects 
of  knowledge  for  us,  must  be  sought  and  found  in  the  laws  of 
our  being,  or  they  are  not  found  at  all.  The  knowledge  of 
these  terminates  in  the  knowledge  of  ourselves,  of  our  ration- 
al and  personal  being,  of  our  proper  and  distinctive  humanity, 
and  of  that  Divine  Being,  in  whose  image  we  are  created. 
"We  must  retire  inwaid,''  says  St.  Bernard,  "if  we  would  as- 
cend upward."  It  is  by  self-inspection,  by  reflecting  upon  the 
mysterious  grounds  of  our  ow^n  being,  alone,  that  we  can  ar- 
rive at  any  rational  knowledge  of  the  central  and  absolute 
ground  of  all  being.  It  is  by  this  only,  that  we  can  discover 
that  prmciple  of  unity  and  consistency,  which  reason  instinct- 
ively seeks  after,  which  shall  reduce  to  a  harmonious  system  all 
our  views  of  truth  and  of  being,  and  destitute  of  w  hich  all  the 
knowledge,  that  comes  to  us  from  without,  is  fragmentary,  and 
in  its  relation  to  our  highest  interests  as  rational  beings,  but 
the  patch- work  of  vanity. 

Now,  of  necessity,  the  only  method,  by  which  another  can 
aid  our  efforts  in  the  work  of  reflection,  is  by  first  reflecting 
himself,  and  so  pointing  out  the  process  and  marking  the  re- 
sult by  loords^  that  we  can  repeat  it,  and  try  the  conclusions 
by  our  owni  consciousness.  If  he  have  reflected  aright,  if  he 
have  excluded  all  causes  of  self-deception,  and  directed  his 
thoughts  by  those  principles  of  truth  and  reason,  and  by  those 
laws  of  the  understanding,  which  belong  in  common  to  all 
men,  his  conclusions  must  be  true  for  all.  We  have  only  to 
repeat  the  process,  impartially  to  reflect  ourselves,  unbiassed  by 
received  opinions,  and  undeceived  by  the  idols  of  our  own 
understandings,  and  w^  e  shall  find  the  same  truths  in  the  deptlis 
of  our  own  self-consciousness.  I  am  persuaded  that  such  for 
the  most  part,  will  be  found  to  be  the  case  with  regard  to  the 
principles  developed  in  the  present  work,  and  that  those,  who, 

B 


:^  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

with  serious  reflection  and  an  unbiassed  love  of  truth,  will  re- 
fer them  to  the  laws  of  thought  in  their  own  minds,  to  the  re- 
quirements of  their  own  reason,  will  find  there  a  witness  to 
their  truth. 

Viewing  the  work  in  this  manner,  therefore,  as  an  instruc- 
tive and  safe  guide  to  the  knowledge  of  what  it  concerns  all 
men  to  know,  I  cannot  but  consider  it  in  itself,  as  a  work  of 
great  and  permanent  value  to  any  christian  community.  What- 
ever indeed  tends  to  awaken  and  cherish  the  power,  and  to 
form  the  habit,  of  reflection  upon  the  great  constituent  piin- 
ciples  of  our  own  permanent  being  and  proper  humanity,  and 
upon  the  abiding  laws  of  truth  and  duty,  as  revealed  in  our 
reason  and  conscience,  cannot  but  promote  our  highest  inter- 
ests as  moral  and  rational  beings.  Even  if  the  particular  con- 
clusions, to  which  the  author  has  arrived,  should  prove  erro- 
neous, the  evil  is  comparatively  of  little  importance,  if  he 
have  at  the  same  time  communicated  to  our  minds  such  pow- 
ers of  thought,  as  will  enable  us  to  detect  his  errors,  and  attain 
by  our  own  efforts  to  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
That  some  of  his  views  may  not  be  erroneous,  or  that  they 
are  to  be  received  on  his  authority,  the  author,  I  presume, 
would  be  the  last  to  affirm ;  and  although  in  the  nature  of  the 
case  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  aid  reflection  without  antici- 
pating and  in  some  measure  influencing  the  results,  yet  the 
primary  tendency  and  design  of  the  work  is,  not  to  establish 
this  or  that  system,  but  to  cultivate  in  every  mind  the  power 
and  the  will  to  seek  earnestly  and  steadfastly  for  the  truth  in 
the  only  direction,  in  which  it  can  ever  be  found.  The  work 
is  no  farther  controversial,  than  every  work  must  be,  "  that 
is  writ  with  freedom  and  reason"  upon  subjects  of  the  same 
kind  ;  and  if  it  be  found  at  variance  with  existing  opinions  and 
modes  of  philosophizing,  it  is  not  necessarily  to  be  considered 
the  fault  of  the  writer. 

In  republishing  the  work  in  this  country,  I  could  wish  that 
it  might  be  received  by  all,  for  whose  instruction  it  was  de- 
signed, simply  as  a  didactic  work,  on  its  own  merits,  and  with- 
out controversy.     I  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  ignorant 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XI 

of  its  bearing  upon  those  questions,  which  have  so  often  been, 
and   still  are,  the  prevailing  topics  of  theological   controversy 
among  us.     It  was  indeed  incumbent  on  me,  before  inviting 
the  attention  of  the  religious  community  to  the  work,  to  con- 
sider its  relation  to  existing  opinions,  and  its  probable  influence 
on  the    progress  of  truth.     This   I  have  done   with  as  severe 
thought  as  I  am  capable  of  bestowing  upon  any  subject,  and  1 
trust  too  with  no  want  of  deference  and  conscientious  regard 
to  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  others,     I  have  not  attempted 
to  disguise  from  myself,  nor  do  I  wish  to  disguise  from  the 
readers  of  the  work,  the  inconsistency  of  some  of  its  leading 
principles  with  much    that  is  taught  and  received  in  our  theo- 
logical circles.     Should  it  gain  much  of  the  public  attention  in 
any  way,  it  will  become,  as  it  ought  to  do,  an  object  of  special 
and  deep  interest  to  all,  who  would  contend  for  the  truth,  and 
labour  to  establish  it  upon   a  permanent  basis,     I  venture  to 
assure   such,  even  those  of  them  who    are  most   capable  of 
comprehending  the  philosophical  grounds  of  truth  in  our  spec- 
ulative systems  of  theology,  that  in  its  relation  to  this  whole 
subject  they  will  find  it  to  be  a  work  of  great  depth  and  pow- 
er, and  whether  right  or  wrong,  eminently  deserving  of  their 
attention.      It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  that  all  who  read,   or 
even  all  who  comprehend  it,  will  be  convinced  of  the  sound- 
ness of  its  views,  or  be  prepared  to  abandon  those,  which  they 
have  long  considered  essential  to  the  truth.     To  those,  whose 
understandings  by  long  habit  have  become  limited  in    their 
powers  of  apprehension,  and  as  it  were  identified  with  certain 
schemes  of  doctrine,   certain  modes  of  contemplating  all  that 
pertains  to  religious  truth,  it  may  appear  novel,  strange,    and 
unintelligible,  or  even   dangerous  in  its  tendency,  and  be    to 
them  an  occasion  of  offence.     But  I  have   no  fear,  that  any 
earnest  and  single-hearted  lover  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus, 
who  will  free  his  mind  from  the  idols  of  preconceived  opinion, 
and  give  himself  time  and  opportunity  to  understand  the  work 
by  such  reflection   as  the  nature  of  the  subject  renders  una- 
voidable, will  find  in  it  any  cause  of  oft*ence,  or  any  source  of 
alarm.     If  the  work  become  the  occasion  of  controversy  at  all, 


XU  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

I  should  expect  it  from  those,  who,  instead  of  reflecting  deep- 
ly upon  the  first  principles  of  truth  in  their  own  reason  and 
conscience  and  in  the  word  of  God,  are  more  accustomed  to 
speculate — that  is,  from  premises  given  or  assumed,  but  consid- 
ered unquestionable,  as  the  constituted  point  of  observation, 
to  look  abroad  upon  the  whole  field  of  their  intellectual  vis- 
ions, and  thence  to  decide  upon  the  true  form  and  dimensions 
of  all  which  meets  their  view.  To  such  I  would  say  with  de- 
ference, that  the  merits  of  this  work  cannot  be  determined  by 
the  merely  relative  aspect  of  its  doctrines,  as  seen  from  the 
high  ground  of  any  prevailing  metaphysical  or  theological  sys- 
tem. Those  on  the  contrary  who  will  seek  to  comprehend  it 
by  reflection,  to  learn  the  true  meaning  of  the  whole  and  of 
all  its  parts,  by  retiring  into  their  own  minds  and  finding  there 
the  true  point  of  observation  for  each,  will  not  be  in  haste  to 
question  the  truth  or  the  tendency  of  its  principles.  I  make 
these  remarks,  because  I  am  anxious,  as  far  as  may  be,  to  an- 
ticipate the  causeless  fears  of  all,  who  earnestly  pray  and  la- 
bour for  the  promotion  of  the  truth,  and  to  preclude  that  un- 
profitable controversy,  that  might  arise  from  hasty  or  prejudi- 
ced views  of  a  work  like  this.  At  the  same  time  I  should  be 
far  from  deprecating  any  discussion,  which  might  tend  to  un- 
fold more  fully  the  principles,  which  it  teaches,  or  to  exhibit 
more  distinctly  its  true  bearing  upon  the  interests  of  theolo- 
gical science  and  of  spiritual  religion.  It  is  to  promote  this 
object,  indeed,  that  I  am  induced  in  the  remarks  which  follow 
to  offer  some  of  my  own  thoughts  on  these  subjects,  imperfect 
I  am  well  aware,  and  such  as,  for  that  reason,  as  well  as  others, 
worldly  prudence  might  require  me  to  suppress.  If,  however, 
I  may  induce  reflecting  men,  and  those  who  are  engaged  in 
theological  enquiries  especially,  to  indulge  a  suspicion,  that  all 
truth,  which  it  is  important  for  them  to  know,  is  not  contained 
in  the  systems  of  doctrine  usually  taught,  and  that  this  work 
maybe  worthy  of  their  serious  and  reflecting  perusal,  my  chief 
object  will  be  accomplished.  I  shall  of  course  not  need  to  an- 
ticipate in  detail  the  contents  of  the  work  itself,  but  shall  aim 
simply  to  point  out  what  I  consider  its  distinguishing  and  cs- 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  Xlll 

sential  character  and  tendency,  and  then  direct  the  attention 
of  my  readers  to  some  of  those  general  feelings  and  views  on 
the  subject  of  religious  truth,  and  of  those  particulars  in  the 
prevailing  philosophy  of  the  age,  which  seem  to  me  to  be  ex- 
erting an  injurious  influence  on  the  cause  of  theological  sci- 
ence and  of  spiritual  religion,  and  not  only  to  furnish  a  fit  oc- 
casion, but  to  create  an  imperious  demand,  for  a  work  like  that 
which  is  here  offered  to  the  public. 

In  regard  then  to  the  distinguishing  character  and  tendency 
of  the  work  itself,  it  has  already  been  stated  to  be  didactic, 
and  designed  to  aid  reflection  on  the  principles  and  grounds 
of  truth  in  our  own  being;  but,  in  another  point  of  view,  and 
with  reference  to  my  present  object,  it  might  rather  be  denom- 
inated A  PHILOSOPHICAL  STATEMENT  AND  VINDICATION  OF  THE 
DISTINCTIVELY    SPIRITUAL  AND    PECULIAR    DOCTRINES  OF    THE 

CHRISTIAN  SYSTEM.  In  Order  to  understand  more  clearly  the 
import  of  this  statement  and  the  relation  of  the  author's  views 
to  those  exhibited  in  other  systems,  the  reader  is  requested 
to  examine  in  the  first  place,  what  he  considers  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  Christianity^  and  what  he  means  by  the  terms 
spirit  and  spiritual,  A  synoptical  view  of  what  he  considers 
peculiar  to  Christianity  as  a  revelation  is  given  on  pp.  127 — 
128,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  will  be  found  essentially  to  co- 
incide, though  not  perhaps  in  the  language  employed,  with 
what  among  us  are  termed  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  reli- 
gion. Those  who  are  anxious  to  examine  farther  into  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  work  in  connexion  with  this  statement,  may 
consult  the  articles  on  original  sin  and  redemption  beginning 
at  pp.  159  and  187,  though  I  must  forewarn  them,  that  it  will 
require  much  study  in  connexion  with  the  other  parts  of  the 
work,  before  one  unaccustomed  to  the  author's  language  and 
unacquainted  with  his  views,  can  fully  appreciate  the  merit  of 
what  may  be  peculiar  in  his  mode  of  treating  those  subjects. 
With  regard  to  the  term  spiritual^  it  may  be  sufficient  to  re- 
mark here,  that  he  regards  it  as  having  a  specific  import,  and 
maintains  that  in  the  sense  of  the  N.  T.  spiritual  and  natural 
are  contradistinguished,  so  that  what  is  spiritual  is  dift'erent ' 


XIV    *  Aids  to  reflection. 

i/i  kind  from  that  which  is  natural,  and  is  in  fact  super-ndtursLi. 
So,  too,  while  morality  is  something  more  than  prudence,  re- 
ligion, the  spiritual  life,  is  something  more  than  morality. 
For  his  views  at  large,  the  reader  may  recur  to  note  29,  and 
the  references  there  made. 

In  vindicating  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  christian  system 
so  stated,  and  a  faith  in  the  reality  of  agencies  and  modes  of 
being  essentially  spiritual  or  supernatural,  he   aims  to  show 
their  consistency  with   reason   and  with  the  true  principles  of 
philosophy,  and  that  indeed,  so  far  from  being  irrational,  chris- 
tian FAITH    IS  THE  PERFECTION  OF  HUMAN    REASON.       By    re- 
flection   upon  the  subjective  grounds  of  knowledge  and   faith 
in  the  human  mind  itself,  and  by  an  analysis  of  its  faculties, 
he  developes  the  distinguishing  characteristics  and  necessary 
relations  of  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  in  our  modes  of  being 
and  knowing,  and  the  all-important  fact,  that  although  the  for- 
mer does  not  comprehend  the  latter,  yet  neither  does  it  pre- 
clude its  existence.      He  proves,  that  "  the  scheme  of  Chris- 
tilanity,  though  not  discoverable  by  reason,  is  yet  in  accordance 
with  it — that  link  follows  link  by  necessary  consequence — that 
religion  passes  out  of  the  ken  of  reason  only  where  the  eye 
of  reason  has  reached  its  own  horizon — and  that  faith  is  then 
but   its  continuation."     Instead  of  adopting,  like  the  popular 
metaphysicians  of  the  day,  a  system  of  philosophy  at  war  with 
religion,  and  which  tends  inevitably  to  undermine  our  belief 
in  the  reality  of  any  thing  spiritual  in  the   only  proper  sense 
of  that  word,  and  then  coldly  and   ambiguously  referring    us 
for  the  support  of  our  faith  to  the  authority  of  revelation,  he 
boldly  asserts  the  reality  of  something  distinctively  spiritual  in 
man,  and  the  futility  of  all  those  modes  of  philosophizing,  in 
which  this  is  not  recognized,  or  which  are  incompatible  with 
it.     He  considers  it  the  highest  and  most  rational  purpose  of 
any  system   of  philosophy,  at   least  of  one  professing  to  be 
christian,  to  investigate  those  higher  and  peculiar  attributes, 
which  distinguish  us  from  the  brutes  that  perish — which  are  the 
image  of  God  in  us,  and  constitute  our  proper  humanity.     It 
is  in  his  view  the  proper  business  and  the  duty  of  the  Chris- 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XV 

tian  philosopher  to  remove  all  appearance  of  contradiction  be- 
tween the  several  manifestations  of  the  one  Divine  Word,  to 
reconcile  reason  with  revelation,  and  thus  to  justify  the  ways 
of  God  to  man.  The  methods  by  which  he  accomplishes  this, 
either  in  regard  to  the  terms  in  which  he  enunciates  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  gospel,  or  the  peculiar  views  of  philosophy, 
by  which  he  reconciles  them  with  the  subjective  grounds  of 
faith  in  the  universal  reason  of  man,  need  not  be  stated  here. 
I  will  merely  observe,  that  the  key  to  his  system  will  be  found 
in  the  distinctions,  which  he  makes  and  illustrates  between 
nature  and  free-ivill,  and  between  the  understanding  and  r'ea- 
son.  For  the  first  of  these  distinctions  the  reader  may  con- 
sult note  29,  and  for  the  other,  pp.  135 — 154,  and  note  59.  It 
may  meet  the  prejudices  of  some  to  remark  farther,  that  in 
philosophizing  on  the  grounds  of  our  faith  he  does  not  profess 
or  aim  to  solve  all  mysteries^  and  to  bring  all  truth  within 
the  comprehension  of  the  understanding.  A  truth  may  be 
mysterious,  and  the  primary  ground  of  all  truth  and  reality 
must  be  so.  But  though  we  may  believe  what  "  passeth  all 
understanding,^^  we  cannot  believe  what  is  absurd,  or  contra- 
dictory to  reason. 

Whether  the  work  be  well  executed,  according  to  the  idea 
of  it,  as  now  given,  or  whether  the  author  have  accomplished 
his  purpose,  must  be  determined  by  those  who  are  capable  of 
judging,  when  they  shall  have  examined  and  reflected  upon 
the  whole  as  it  deserves.  The  inquiry  which  I  have  now  to 
propose  to  my  readers  is,  whether  the  idea  itself  be  a  rational 
one,  and  whether  the  purpose  of  the  author  be  one,  which  a 
wise  man  and  a  christian  ought  to  aim  at,  or  which  in  the  pre- 
sent state  of  our  religious  interests,  and  of  our  theological  sci- 
ence specially  needs  to  be  accomplished. 

No  one,  who  has  had  occasion  to  observe  the  general  feel- 
ings and  views  of  our  religious  community  for  a  few  years 
past,  can  be  ignorant,  that  a  strong  prejudice  exists  against 
the  introduction  of  philosophy,  in  any  form,  in  the  discussion  of 
theological  subjects.  The  terms  j)liilosophy  and  metaphysics, 
even  reasan  and  rational  seem,  in  the  minds  of  those  most  de- 


XVI  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

voted  to  the  support  of  religious  truth,  to  have  forfeited  their 
original,  and  to  have  acquired  a  new,  import,  especially  in  their 
relation  to  matters  of  faith.  By  a  philosophical  view  of  reli- 
gious truth  would  generally  be  understood,  a  view,  not  only 
varying  from  the  religion  of  the  bible  in  the  form  and  manner 
of  presenting  it,  but  at  war  with  it ;  and  a  rational  religion  is 
supposed  to  be  of  course  something  diverse  from  revealed  re- 
ligion. A  philosophical  and  rational  system  of  religious  truth 
would  by  most  readers  among  us,  if  I  mistake  not,  be  suppo- 
sed a  system  deriving  its  doctrines  not  from  revelation,  but 
from  the  speculative  reason  of  men,  or  at  least  relying  on  that 
only  for  their  credibility.  That  these  terms  have  been  used 
to  designate  such  systems,  and  that  the  prejudice  against  rea- 
son and  philosophy  so  employed,  is  not,  therefore,  without 
cause,  I  need  not  deny ;  nor  would  any  friend  of  revealed 
truth  be  less  disposed  to  give  credence  to  such  systems,  than 
the  author  of  the  work  before  us. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  moment's  reflection  only  can  be 
necessary  to  convince  any  man,  attentive  to  the  use  of  lan- 
guage, that  we  do  at  the  same  time  employ  these  terms  in  re- 
lation to  truth  generally  in  a  better  and  much  higher  sense. 
Rational,  as  contradistinguished  from  irrational  and  absurd, 
certainly  denotes  a  quality,  which  every  man  would  be  dispo- 
sed to  claim,  not  only  for  himself,  but  for  his  religious  opin- 
ions. Now,  the  adjective  reasonable,  having  acquired  a  dif- 
ferent use  and  signification,  the  word  rational  is  the  adjective 
corresponding  in  sense  to  the  substantive  reason,  and  signifies 
what  is  conformed  to  reason.  In  one  sense,  then,  all  men 
would  appeal  to  reason,  in  behalf  of  their  religious  faith  :  they 
would  deny  that  it  was  irrational  or  absurd.  If  we  do  not  in 
this  sense  adhere  to  reason,  we  forfeit  our  prerogative  as  ra- 
tional beings,  and  our  faith  is  no  better  than  the  bewildered 
dream  of  a  man  who  has  lost  his  reason.  Nay,  I  maintain 
that  when  we  use  the  term  in  this  higher  sense,  it  is  impossible 
for  us  to  believe  on  any  authority  what  is  directly  contradic- 
tory to  reason  and  seen  to  be  so.  No  evidence  from  another 
source,  and  no  authority  could  convince  us,  that  a  proposition 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XVll 

in  Geometry,  for  example,  is  false,  which  our  reason  intuitive- 
ly discovers  to  be  true.  Now  supposin*!:;,  (and  we  may  at 
least  suppose  this,)  that  reason  has  the  same  power  of  intui- 
tive insight  in  relation  to  certain  moral  and  spiritual  truths,  as 
in  relation  to  the  truths  of  Geometry,  then  it  will  be  equally 
impossible  to  divest  us  of  our  belief  of  those  truths. 

Furthermore,  we  are  not  only  unable  to  believe  the  same 
proposition  to  be  false,  which  our  reason  sees  to  be  true,  but 
we  cannot  believe  another  proposition^  which  by  the  exercise 
of  the  same  rational  faculty  we  see  to  be  incompatible  with 
the  former,  or  to  contradict  it.  We  may,  and  probably  often 
do,  receive  with  a  certain  kind  and  degree  of  credence  opin- 
ions, which  reflection  would  show  to  be  incompatible.  But 
when  we  have  reflected,  and  discovered  the  inconsistency,  we 
cannot  retain  hoth.  We  cannot  believe  two  contradictory 
propositions  knowing  them  to  be  such.  It  would  be  irration- 
al to  do  so. 

Again,  we  cannot  conceive  it  possible,  that  what  by  the 
same  power  of  intuition  we  see  to  be  universally  and  neces- 
sarily true  should  appear  otherwise  to  any  other  rational 
being.  We  cannot,  for  example,  but  consider  the  propo- 
sitions of  Geometry,  as  necessarily  true,  for  all  rational  be- 
ings. So,  too,  a  little  reflection,  I  think,  will  convince  any 
one,  that  we  attribute  the  same  necessity  of  reason  to  the 
principles  of  moral  rectitude.  What  in  the  clear  day-light  of 
our  reason,  and  after  mature  reflection,  we  see  to  be  right,  we 
cannot  believe  to  be  wrong  in  the  view  of  other  rational  be- 
ings in  the  distinct  exercise  of  their  Reason.  Nay,  in  regard 
to  those  truths,  which  are  clearly  submitted  to  the  view  of 
our  reason,  and  w^hich  we  behold  with  distinct  and  steadfast 
intuitions,  we  necessarily  attribute  to  the  Supreme  Reason^  to 
the  Divine  Mind,  views  the  same,  or  coincident,  with  those 
of  our  own  reason.  We  cannot,  ( I  say  it  with  reverence  and 
I  trust  with  some  apprehension  of  the  importance  of  the  asser- 
tion) we  cannot  believe  that  to  be  right  in  the  view  of  the  su- 
preme reason  which  is  clearly  and  decidedly  wrong  in  the  view 
of  our  own.  It  would  be  contradictory  to  reason,  it  would  be  ir- 


XVlll  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

rational  to  believe  it,  and  therefore  we  cannot  do  so,  till  we 
lose  our  reason,  or  cease  to  exercise  it.  * 

I  would  ask  now,  whether  this  be  not  an  authorized  use 
of  the  words  reason  and  rational,  and  whether  so  used  they  do 
not  mean  something.  If  it  be  so — and  I  appeal  to  the  mind  of 
every  man  capable  of  reflection,  and  of  understanding  the  use 
of  language,  if  it  be  not — then  there  is  meaning  in  the  terms 
universal  reason,  and  unity  of  reason,  as  used  in  this  work. 
There  is,  and  can  be,  in  this  highest  sense  of  the  word,  but 
one  reason,  and  whatever  contradicts  that  reason,  being  seen 
to  do  so,  cannot  be  received  as  matter  either  of  knowledge  or 
faith.  To  reconcile  religion  with  reason  used  in  this  sense, 
therefore,  and  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man,  or  in  the 
view  of  reason,  is  so  far  from  being  irrational,  that  reason  im- 
peratively demands  it  of  us.  We  cannot,  as  rational  beings, 
believe  a  proposition  on  the  grounds  of  reason,  and  deny  it 
on  the  authority  of  revelation.  We  cannot  believe  a  proposi- 
tion in  philosophy,  and  deny  the  same  proposition  in  theology  ; 
nor  can  we  believe  two  incompatible  propositions  on  the  dif- 
ferent gix)unds  of  reason  and  revelation.  So  fast,  and  so  far, 
as  we  compare  our  thoughts,  the  objects  of  our  knowledge  and 
faith,  and  by  reflection  refer  them  to  their  common  measure  in 
the  universal  laws  of  reason,  so  far  the  instinct  of  reason  im- 
pels us  to  reject  whatever  is  contradictory  and  absurd,  and  to 
bring  unity  and  consistency  into  all  our  views  of  truth.  Thus, 
in  the  language  of  the  author  of  this  work,  (p.  6,)  though  "  the 
word  rational  has  been  strangely  abused  of  late  times,  this 
must  not  disincline  us  to  the  weighty  consideration,  that 
thoughtfulness,  and  a  desire  to  rest  all  our  convictions  on 
grounds  of  right  reason,  are  inseparable  from  the  character  of 
a  Christian." 

But  I  beg  the  reader  to  observe,  that  in  relation  to  the  doc- 
trines of  spiritual  religion — to  all  that  he  considers  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  revelation,  the  author  assigns  to  rea- 
son only  a  negative  validity.  It  does  not  teach  us,  what  those 
doctrines  are,  or  what  they  are  not,  except  that  they  are  not, 
and  cannot  be,  such  as  contradict  the  clear  convictions  of  right 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XIX 

reason.  But  his  views  on  this  point  aie  fully  stated  in  the 
work,  and  may  he  found  hy  the  references  in  note  43.  The 
general  office  of  reason  in  relation  to  all,  that  is  proposed  for 
our  belief,  is  given  with  philosophical  precision  in  the  Appen- 
dix, pp.  390—391. 

If  then  it  be  our  prerogative,  as  rational  beings,  and  our 
duty  as  Christians,  to  think,  as  well  as  to  act,  rationally  to 
see  that  our  convictions  of  truth  rest  on  grounds  of  right  rea- 
son ;  and  [{  it  be  one  of  the  clearest  dictates  of  reason,  that 
we  should  endeavor  to  shun,  and  on  discovery  should  reject, 
whatever  is  contradictory  to  the  universal  laws  of  thought,  or 
to  doctrines  already  established,  I  know  not  by  what  means  we 
are  to  avoid  the  application  of  philosophy,  at  least  to  some  ex- 
tent, m  the  study  of  theology.  For  to  determine  what  arz 
the  grounds  of  right  reason,  what  are  those  ultimate  truths, 
and  those  universal  laws  of  thought,  which  we  cannot  ration- 
ally contradict,  and  by  reflection  to  compare  with  these  what- 
ever is  proposed  for  our  belief,  is  in  fact  to  philosophize  ;  and 
whoever  does  this  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  is  so  far  a  philo- 
sopher in  the  best  and  highest  sense  of  the  word.  To  this 
extent  we  are  bound  to  philosophize  in  Theology,  as  well  as 
in  every  other  science.  For  what  is  not  rational  in  theology, 
is,  of  course,  irrational,  and  cannot  be  of  the  household  of 
faith ;  and  to  determine  whether  it  be  rational  in  the  sense  al- 
ready explained  or  not,  is  the  province  of  philosophy.  It  is 
in  this  sense,  that  the  work  before  us  is  to  be  considered  a 
philosophical  work,  viz.  that  it  proves  the  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  faith  to  be  rational,  and  exhibits  philosophical  grounds 
for  the  possibility  of  a  truly  spiritual  religion.  The  reality  oi 
those  experiences,  or  states  of  being,  which  constitute  exper- 
imental or  spiritual  religion,  rests  on  other  grounds.  It  is  in- 
cumbent on  the  philosopher  to  free  them  from  the  contradic- 
tions of  reason,  and  nothing  more  ;  and  who  will  deny,  that 
to  do  this  is  a  purpose  worthy  of  the  ablest  philosopher  and 
the  most  devoted  christian  !  Is  it  not  desirable  to  convince  all 
men,  that  the  doctrines,  which  we  affirm  to  be  revealed  in  the 
gospel,  are  not  contradictory  to  the  requirements  of  reason 


XX  AIDS    TO    KEFLECTIOi^. 

and  conscience.     Is  it  not,  on  the  other  hand,  vastly  important 
to  the  cause  of  religious  truth,  and  even  to  the  practical  in- 
fluence of  religion  on  our  own  minds,  and  the  minds  of  com- 
munity at  large,  that  we  should  attain  and  exhibit  views  of 
philosophy  and  doctrines  in  metaphysics,  which  are  at  least 
compatible  with,  if  they  do  not   specially  favour  those  views 
of  religion,  wdiich,  on  other  grounds,  we  find  it  our  duty  to  be- 
lieve and  maintain.     For,  I  beg  it  may  be  observed,  as  a  point 
of  great  moment,  that  it  is  not  the  method  of  the  genuine  phi- 
losopher to  separate  his  philosophy  and  religion,  and  adopting 
his  principles  independently  in  each,  leave  them  to  be  reconci- 
led or  not,  as  the  case  may  be.  He  has  and  can  have  rationally 
but  one  system,  in  which  his  philosophy  becomes  religious, 
and  his  religion  philosophical.     Nor  am  I  disposed  in  compli- 
ance with  popular  opinion  to  limit  the  application  of  this  re- 
mark, as  is  usually  done,  to  the  mere  external  evidences  of 
revelation.     The  philosophy  which  we  adopt  will  and  must 
influence   not  only  our  decision   of  the  question,  whether  a 
book  be  of  divine  authority,  but  our  views  also  of  its  mean- 
ing. 

But  this  is  a  subject,  on  which,  if  possible,  I  would  avoid 
being  misunderstood,  and  must,  therefore,  exhibit  it  more  fully, 
even  at  the  risk  of  repeating  what  was  said  before,  or  is  else- 
where found  in  the  work.  It  has  been  already,  I  believe,  dis- 
tinctly enough  stated,  that  reason  and  philosophy  ought  to 
prevent  our  reception  of  doctrines  claiming  the  authority  of 
revelation  only  so  far  as  the  very  necessities  of  our  rational 
being  require.  However  mysterious  the  thing  aflirmed  may 
be,  though  "  it  passeth  all  understanding^''''  if  it  cannot  be  shown 
to  contradict  the  unchangeable  principles  of  right  reason,  its 
being  incomprehensible  to  our  understandings  is  not  an  obsta- 
cle to  our  faith.  If  it  contradict  reason,  we  cannot  believe  it, 
but  must  conclude,  either  that  the  writing  is  not  of  divine  au- 
thority, or  that  the  language  has  been  misinterpreted.  So  far 
it  seems  to  me,  that  our  philosophy  ought  to  modify  our  views 
of  theological  doctrines,  and  our  mode  of  interpreting  the 
language  of  an  inspired  writer.    But  then  we  must  be  cautious. 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XXI 

that  we  philosophize  rightly,  and  "do  not  call  that  reason, 
which  is  not  so."  (See  p.  205.)  Otherwise  we  may  be  led  -^ 
by  the  supposed  requirements  of  reason  to  interpret  meta- 
phorically, what  ought  to  be  received  literally,  and  evacuate 
the  Scriptures  of  their  most  important  doctrines.  But  what  I 
mean  to  say  here  is,  that  we  cannot  avoid  the  application  of 
our  philosophy  in  the  interpretation  of  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  in  the  explanation  of  the  doctrines  of  religion  gen- 
erally. We  cannot  avoid  incurring  the  danger  just  alluded  to 
of  philosophizing  erroneously,  even  to  the  extent  of  rejecting 
as  irrational  that,  which  tends  to  the  perfection  of  reason  itself. 
And  hence  I  maintain,  that  instead  of  pretending  to  exclude 
philosophy  from  our  religious  enquiries,  it  is  vastly  important, 
that  we  philosophize  in  earnest — that  we  endeavor  by  profound 
reflection  to  learn  the  real  requirements  of  reason,  and  attain 
a  true  knowledge  of  ourselves. 

If  any  dispute  the  necessity  of  thus  combining  the  study  of 
philosophy  with  that  of  religion,  I  would  beg  them  to  point 
out  the  age  since  that  of  the  Apostles,  in  which  the  prevailing 
metaphysical  opinions  have  not  distinctly  manifested  them- 
selves in  the  prevailing  views  of  religion ;  and  if,  as  I  fully 
believe  will  be  the  case,  they  fail  to  discover  a  single  system  of 
theology,  a  single  volume  on  the  subject  of  the  christian  religion, 
in  which  the  author's  views  are  not  modified  by  the  metaphysic- 
al opinions  of  the  age  or  of  the  individual,  it  would  be  desirable 
to  ascertain,  whether  this  influence  be  accidental  or  necessary. 
The  metaphysician  analyzes  the  faculties  and  operations  of  the 
human  mind,  and  teaches  us  to  arrange,  to  classify,  and  to 
name  them,  according  to  his  views  of  their  various  distinctions. 
The  language  of  the  Scriptures,  at  least  to  a  great  extent, 
speaks  of  subjects,  that  can  be  understood  only  by  a  leference 
to  those  same  powers  and  processes  of  thought  and  feeling, 
which  we  have  learned  to  think  of,  and  to  name,  according  to 
our  particular  system  of  metaphysics.  IIow"  is  it  possible  then 
to  avoid  interpreting  the  one  by  the  other?  Let  us  suppose,, 
for  example,  that  a  man  has  studied  and  adopted  the  philoso-  ^ 
phy  of  Brown,  is  it  possible  for  him  to  interpret  the  8th  chap- 


xxu  Aids  to  reflection. 

ter  of  Romans,  without  having  his  views  of  its  meaning  in- 
fluenced by  his  philosophy  ?  Would  he  not  unavoidably  inter- 
pret the  language  and  explain  the  doctrines,  which  it  contains, 
differently  from  one,  who  should  have  adopted  such  views  of 
the  human  mind,  as  are  taught  in  this  work  ?  I  know  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  disclaim  the  influence  of  philosophy  in  the  business 
of  interpretation,  and  every  writer  now-a-days  on  such  sub- 
jects wall  assure  us,  that  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  metaphys- 
ics, but  is  guided  only  by  common  sense  and  the  laws  of  in- 
terpretation. But  I  would  like  to  know  how  a  man  comes  by 
any  common  sense  in  relation  to  the  movements  and  laws  of 
his  intellectual  and  moral  being  without  metaphysics.  What 
is  the  common  sense  of  a  Hottentot  on  subjects  of  this  sort  ? 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  it  is  nearly,  if  not  quite,  impossible  for  any  man  entirely 
to  separate  his  philosophical  view  s  of  the  human  mind  from 
his  reflections  on  religious  subjects.  Probably  no  man  has 
endeavored  more  faithfully  to  do  this,  perhaps  no  one  has  suc- 
ceeded better  in  giving  the  truth  of  Scripture  free  from  the 
glosses  of  metaphysics,  than  Professor  Stuart.  Yet,  I  should 
risk  little  in  saying,  that  a  reader  deeply  versed  in  the  lan- 
guage of  metaphysics,  extensively  acquainted  with  the  philos- 
ophy of  different  ages,  and  the  peculiar  phraseology  of  differ- 
ent schools,  might  ascertain  his  metaphysical  system  from 
many  a  passage  of  his  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews. What  then,  let  me  ask,  is  the  possible  use  to  the  cause 
of  truth  and  of  religion,  from  thus  perpetually  decrying  phi- 
losophy in  theological  enquiries,  when  we  cannot  avoid  it  if 
we  would  ?  Every  man,  who  has  reflected  at  all,  hag  his  met- 
aphysics ;  and  if  he  reads  on  religious  subjects,  he  interprets 
and  understands  the  language,  which  he  employs,  by  the  help 
of  his  metaphysics.  He  cannot  do  otherwise. — And  the  prop- 
er enquiry  is,  not  whether  we  admit  our  philosophy  into  our 
theological  and  religious  investigations,  but  whether  our  phi- 
losophy be  right  and  true.  For  myself,  I  am  fully  convinced, 
that  we  can  have  no  right  views  of  theology,  till  we  have  right 
views  of  the  human  mind  ;  and  that  these  are  to  be  acquired 


PRELIMINARY     ESSAY.  XXill 

only  by  laborious  and  persevering  reflection.  My  belief  is, 
that  the  distinctions  unfolded  in  this  work  will  place  us  in  the 
way  to  truth,  and  relieve  us  from  numerous  perplexities,  in 
which  we  are  involved  by  the  philosophy,  which  we  have  so 
long  taken  for  our  guide.  For  we  are  greatly  deceived,  if  we 
suppose  for  a  moment,  that  the  systems  of  theology,  which 
have  been  received  among  us,  or  even  the  theoretical  views, 
which  are  now  most  popular,  are  free  from  the  entanglements 
of  wordly  wisdom.  The  readers  of  this  work  will  be  able  to 
see,  I  think,  more  clearly  the  import  of  this  remark,  and  the 
true  bearing  of  the  received  views  of  philosophy  on  our 
theological  enquiries.  Those,  who  study  the  work  without 
prejudice  and  adopt  its  principles  to  any  considerable  extent, 
will  understand  too  how  deeply  an  age  may  be  ensnared  in  the 
metaphysical  w^ebs  of  its  own  weaving,  or  entangled  in  the 
net,  which  the  speculations  of  a  former  generation  have  thrown 
over  it,  and  yet  suppose  itself  blessed  with  a  perfect  immuni- 
ty from  the  dreaded  evils  of  metaphysics. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  remark  on  those  particulars,  in 
which  our  prevailing  philosophy  seems  to  me  dangerous  in  its 
tendency,  and  unfriendly  to  the  cause  of  spiritual  leligion, 
I  must  beg  leave  to  guard  myself  and  the  work  from  misappre- 
hension on  another  point,  of  great  importance  in  its  relation 
to  the  whole  subject.  While  it  is  maintained  that  reason  and 
philosophy,  in  their  true  character,  ought  to  have  a  certain 
degree  and  extent  of  influence  in  the  formation  of  our  reli- 
gious system,  and  that  our  metaphysical  opinions,  whatever 
they  may  be,  will^  almost  unavoidably,  modify  more  or  less 
our  theoretical  views  of  religious  truth  generaUy^  it  is  yet  a 
special  object  of  the  author  of  the  work  to  show,  that  the 
spiritual  life,  or  what  among  us  is  termed  experimental  reli- 
gion, is,  in  itself,  and  in  its  own  proper  growth  and  develope- 
ment,  essentially  distinct  from  the  forms  and  processes  of  the 
understanding;  and  that,  although  a  true  faith  cannot  contra- 
dict any  universal  principle  of  speculative  reason,  it  is  yet  in 
a  certain  sense  independent  of  the  discursions  of  philosophy, 
and  in  its  proper  nature  beyond  the  reach  "  of  positive  science 


XXIV  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

and  theoretical  insighty  "  Christianity  is  not  a  Theory^  or  a 
Speculation;  but  a  Life.  Not  a  Philosophy  of  Life,  but  a 
Life  and  a  living  process."  It  is  not,  therefore,  so  properly  a 
species  of  knowledge,  as  a  form  of  being.  And  although  the 
theoretical  views  of  the  understanding,  and  the  motives  of 
prudence  which  it  presents,  may  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  con- 
nected with  the  developement  of  the  spiritual  principle  of  re- 
ligious life  in  the  Christian,  yet  a  true  and  living  faith  is  not 
incompatible  with  at  least  some  degree  of  speculative  error. 
As  the  acquisition  of  merely  speculative  knowledge  cannot  of 
itself  communicate  the  principle  of  spiritual  life,  so  neither 
does  that  principle,  and  the  living  process  of  its  growth,  de- 
pend w^hoUy,  at  least,  upon  the  degree  of  speculative  knowl- 
edge with  which  it  co-exists.  That  religion,  of  which  our 
blessed  Saviour  is  himself  the  essential  Form  and  the  living 
Word,  and  to  which  he  imparts  the  actuating  Spirit,  has  a  prin- 
ciple of  unity  and  consistency  in  itself,  distinct  from  the  unity 
and  consistency  of  our  theoretical  views.  This  we  have  evi- 
dence of  in  every  day's  observation  of  Christian  chaiacter ; 
for  how  often  do  we  see  and  acknowledge  the  power  of  reli- 
gion, and  the  growth  of  a  spiritual  life,  in  minds  but  little  gift- 
ed with  speculative  knowledge,  and  little  versed  in  the  forms 
of  logic  or  philosophy.  How  obviously,  too,  does  the  living 
principle  of  religion  manifest  tlie  same  specific  character,  the 
same  essential  form,  amidst  all  the  diversities  of  condition,  of 
talents,  of  education,  and  natural  disposition,  with  which  it  is 
associated  ;  every  where  rising  above  nature,  and  the  powers 
of  the  natural  man,  and  unlimited  in  its  goings  on  by  the  forms 
in  which  the  understanding  seeks  to  comprehend  and  confine  its 
spiritual  energies.  "There  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same 
spirit ;"  and  it  is  no  less  true  now,  than  in  the  age  of  the  Apos- 
tles, that  in  all  lands,  and  in  every  variety  of  circumstances, 
the  manifestations  of  spiritual  life  are  essentially  the  same  ; 
and  all  who  truly  believe  in  heart,  however  diverse  in  natu- 
ral condition,  in  the  character  of  their  understandings,  and 
even  in  their  theoretical  views  of  truth,  arc  one  in  Christ  Je- 
sus.    The  essential  faith  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  understand- 


PRELIMINARY     ESSAY.  XXV 

ing  or  the  speculative  theory,  but  "  the  Life^  the  Substance^ 
the  Hope,  the  Love — in  one  word,  the  Faith — these  are  De- 
rivatives from  the  practical,  moral,  and  Spiritual  Nature  and 
Being  of  Man."  Speculative  systems  of  theology  indeed 
have  often  had  little  connexion  with  the  essential  spirit  of 
religion,  and  are  usually  little  more  than  schemes  resulting 
from  the  strivings  of  the  finite  understanding  to  comprehend 
and  exhibit  under  its  own  forms  and  conditions  a  mode  of  be- 
ing and  spiritual  truths  essentially  diverse  from  their  proper 
objects,  and  with  which  they  are  incommensurate. 

This  I  am  aware  is  an  imperfect,  and  I  fear  may  be  an  un- 
intelligible view,  of  a  subject  exceedingly  difficult  of  appre- 
hension at  the  best.  If  so,  I  must  beg  the  reader's  indulgence, 
and  request  him  to  suspend  his  judgment,  as  to  the  absolute 
intelligibility  of  it,  till  he  becomes  acquainted  with  the  lan- 
guage and  sentiments  of  the  work  itself.  It  will,  however,  I 
hope,  be  so  far  understood,  at  least,  as  to  answer  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  introduced — of  precluding  the  supposition, 
that,  in  the  remarks  which  preceded,  or  in  those  which  follow, 
any  suspicion  is  intended  to  be  expressed,  with  regard  to  the 
religious  principles  or  the  essential  faith  of  those  who  hold 
the  opinions  in  question.  According  to  this  view  of  the  inhe- 
rent and  essential  nature  of  Spiritual  Religion,  as  existing  in 
the  practical  reason  of  man,  we  may  not  only  admit,  but 
can  better  understand,  the  possibility  of  what  every  charita- 
ble christian  will  acknowledge  to  be  a  fact,  so  far  as  human 
observation  can  determine  facts  of  this  sort — that  a  man  may 
be  truly  religious,  and  essentially  a  believer  at  heart,  while  his 
understawding  is  sadly  bewildered  with  the  attempt  to  com- 
prehend and  express  philosophically,  what  yet  he  feels  and 
knows  spiritually.  It  is  indeed  impossible  for  us  to  tell,  how 
far  the  understanding  may  impose  upon  itself  by  partial  views 
and  false  disguises,  without  perverting  the  will,  or  estranging 
it  from  the  laws  and  the  authority  of  reason  and  the  Divine 
Word.  We  cannot  say,  to  what  extent  a  false  system  of  phi- 
losophy and  metaphysical  opinions,  which  in  their  natural  and 
uncounteracted  tendency  would  go  to  destroy  all  religion,  may 

D 


XXVI  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

be  received  in  a  christian  community,  and  yet  the  power  of 
spiritual  religion  retain  its  hold  and  its  efficacy  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  We  may  perhaps  believe  that,  in  opposition  to 
all  the  might  of  false  philosophy,  so  long  as  the  great  body  of 
the  people  have  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  and  are  taught  to 
reverence  and  receive  its  heavenly  instructions,  though  the 
church  may  suifer  injury  from  unwise  and  unfruitful  specu- 
lations, it  will  yet  be  preserved ;  and  that  the  spiritual  seed  of 
the  Divine  Word,  though  mingled  with  many  tares  of  worldly 
wisdom,  and  philosophy  falsely  so  called,  will  yet  spring  up, 
and  bear  fruit  unto  everlasting  life. 

But  though  we  may  hope  and  believe  this,  we  cannot  avoid 
believing,  at  the  same  time,  that  injury  must  result  from  an  un- 
suspecting confidence  in  metaphysical  opinions,  which  are  es- 
sentially at  variance  with  the  doctrines  of  revelation.  Espe- 
cially must  the  effect  be  injurious,  where  those  opinions  lead 
gradually  to  alter  our  views  of  religion  itself,  and  of  all  that  is 
peculiar  in  the  Christian  system.  The  great  mass  of  commu- 
nity, who  know  little  of  metaphysics  and  whose  faith  in  reve- 
lation is  not  so  readily  influenced  by  speculations  not  iimnedi- 
ately  connected  with  it,  may,  indeed,  for  a  time,  escape  the 
evil,  and  continue  to  "  receive  with  meekness  the  ingrafted 
word."  But  in  the  minds  of  the  better  educated,  especially 
those  w^ho  think,  and  follow  out  their  conclusions  with  resolute 
independence  of  thought,  the  result  must  be  either  a  loss  of 
confidence  in  the  opinions  themselves,  or  a  rejection  of  all 
those  parts  of  the  christian  system  which  are  at  variance  with 
them.  Under  particular  circumstances,  indeed,  where  both 
the  metaphysical  errors,  and  the  great  doctrines  of  the  chris- 
tian faith,  have  a  strong  hold  upon  the  minds  of  a  community, 
a  protracted  struggle  may  take  place,  and  earnest  and  long 
continued  efforts  may  be  made  to  reconcile  opinions,  which 
we  are  resolved  to  maintain,  with  a  faith  which  our  conscien- 
ces will  not  permit  us  to  abandon.  B.ut  so  long  as  the  effort 
continues,  and  such  opinions  retain  their  hold  upon  our  confi- 
dence, it  must  be  with  some  diminution  of  the  fulness  and 
simplicity  of  our  faith.     To  a  greater  or  less  degree,  accord* 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XXV 11 

ing  to  the  education  and  habits  of  thought  in  different  individ- 
uals, the  Word  of  God  is  received  with  doubt,  or  with  such 
glozing  modifications  as  enervate  its  power.     Thus  the  Hght 
from  heaven  is  intercepted,  and  we  are  left  to  a  shadow-fight 
of   metaphysical    schemes   and   metaphorical   interpretations. 
While  one  party,  with  conscientious  and  earnest  endeavors, 
and  at  great  expense  of  talent  and  ingenuity,  contends  for  the 
faith,  and  among  the  possible  shapings  of  the  received  meta- 
physical system,   seeks  that  which  will  best  comport  with  the 
simplicity  of  the  gospel,  another  more  boldly  interprets  the 
language  of  the  gospel  itself,  in  conformity  with  those  views 
of  religion  to  which  their  philosophy  seems  obviously  to  con- 
duct them.     The  substantial  being,  and  the  living  energy,  of 
that  Word,  which  is  not  only  the  light  but  the  life  of  men,  is 
either  misapprehended  or  denied  by  all  parties  ;  and  even  those 
who   contend  for  what  they  conceive  the  literal  import  of  the 
gospel,  do  it — as  they  must  to  avoid  too  glaring  absurdity — with 
such  explanations  of  its  import,  as   make  it  to  become,  in  no 
small  degree,   the  "  w^ords  of  man's  wisdom,"  rather  than   a 
simple  "  demonstration  of  the  spirit,  and  of  power."     Hence, 
although  such  as  have  experienced  the  spiritual  and  life-giving 
power  of  the  Divine  Word,  may  be  able,  through  the  promis- 
ed aids    of  the  spirit,  to  overcome   the   natural  tendency  of 
speculative  error,  and,  by  "the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life"  which 
is  in  them,  may  at  length  be  made  "  free  from  the  law  of  sin 
and  death,"  yet  who  can  tell  how  much  they  may  lose  of  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel,  and  be  retarded  in  their  spiritual  growth 
when  they  are  but  too  often  fed  with  the  lifeless  and  starve- 
ling products  of  the   human  understanding,   instead   of  that 
"  living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven."    Who  can  tell, 
moreover,  how^  many,  through  the  prevalence  of  such  philo- 
sophical errors  as  lead  to  misconceptions  of  the  truth,  or  cre- 
ate a  prejudice  against  it,  and  thus  tend  to  intercept  the  light 
from  heaven,  may  continue  in  their  ignorance,  "alienated  from 
the  life  of  God,"  and  groping  in  the  darkness  of  their  own  un- 
derstandings. 

But  however  that  may  be,  enlightened  christians,  and  cspe- 


XXVm  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


cially  christian  instructers,  know  it  to  be  their  duty,  as  far  as 
possible,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  full  and  unobstructed  in- 
fluence of  the  Gospel,  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  remove  those 
natural  prejudices,  and  those  errors  of  the  understanding, 
which  are  obstacles  to  the  truth,  that  the  word  of  God  may 
find  access  to  the  heart,  and  conscience,  and  reason  of  every 
man,  that  it  may  have  "  free  course,  and  run,  and  be  glorified. '^ 
My  own  belief,  that  such  obstacles  to  the  influence  of  truth 
exist  in  the  speculative  and  metaphysical  opinions  generally 
adopted  in  this  country,  and  that  the  present  work  is  in  some 
measure  at  least  calculated  to  remove  them,  is  pretty  clearly 
indicated  by  the  remarks  which  I  have  already  made.  But,  to 
be  perfectly  explicit  on  the  subject,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  express 
my  conviction,  that  the  natural  tendency  of  some  of  the  lead- 
ing principles  of  our  prevailing  system  of  metaphysics,  and 
those  which  must  unavoidably  have  more  or  less  influence  on 
our  theoretical  views  of  religion,  are  of  an  injurious  and  dan- 
gerous tendency,  and  that  so  long  as  we  retain  them,  however 
we  may  profess  to  exclude  their  influence  from  our  theological 
enquiries,  and  from  the  interpretation  of  vScripture,  we  can 
maintain  no  consistent  system  of  Scriptural  theology,  nor  clear- 
ly and  distinctly  apprehend  the  spiritual  import  of  Scripture 
language.  The  grounds  of  this  conviction  I  shall  proceed  to 
exhibit,  though  only  in  a  very  partial  manner,  as  I  could  not 
do  more  without  anticipating  the  contents  of  the  work  itself, 
instead  of  merely  preparing  the  reader  to  peruse  them  with 
attention.  I  am  aware,  too,  that  some  of  the  language,  which 
I  have  already  employed,  and  shall  be  obliged  to  employ,  will 
not  convey  its  full  import  to  the  reader,  till  he  becomes  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  the  leading  principles  and  distinctions 
unfolded  in  the  work.  But  this,  also,  is  an  evil,  which  I  saw 
no  means  of  avoiding  without  incurring  a  greater,  and  wTiting 
a  book  instead  of  a  brief  essay. 

Let  it  be  understood,  then,  without  farther  prefiice,  that  by 
the  prevailing  system  of  metaphysics,  I  mean  the  system,  of 
which  in  modern  times  Locke  is  the  reputed  author,  and  the 
leading  principles  of  which,  with  various  modifications,  more 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XXlX 

or  less  important,  but  not  altering  its  essential  character,  have 
been  almost  universally  received  in  this  country.  It  should  be 
observed,  too,  that  the  causes  enumerated  in  the  Ap}3endix  of 
this  work,  pp.  393 — 395,  as  having  elevated  it  to  its  "pride  of 
place"  in  Europe,  have  been  aided  by  other  favouring  circum- 
stances here.  In  the  minds  of  our  religious  community  espe- 
cially some  of  its  most  important  doctrines  have  become  asso- 
ciated with  names  justly  loved  and  revered  among  ourselves, 
and  so  connected  with  all  our  theoretical  views  of  religion, 
that  one  can  hardly  hope  to  question  their  validity  without 
hazarding  his  reputation,  not  only  for  orthodoxy,  but  even  for 
common  sense.  To  controvert,  for  example,  the  prevailing  doc- 
trines with  regard  to  the  freedom  of  the  will,  the  sources  of 
our  knowledge,  the  nature  of  the  understanding  as  containing 
the  controlling  principles  of  our  whole  being,  and  the  univer- 
sality of  the  law  of  cause  and  effect,  even  in  connexion  with 
the  arguments  and  the  authority  of  the  most  powerful  intellect 
of  the  age,  may  even  now  be  worse  than  in  vain.  Yet  I  have 
reasons  for  believing  there  are  some  among  us,  and  that  their 
number  is  fast  increasing,  who  are  willing  to  revise  their  opin- 
ions on  these  subjects,  and  who  will  contemplate  the  views 
presented  in  this  w^ork  with  a  liberal,  and  something  of  a  pre- 
pared feeling,  of  curiosity.  The  difileulties,  in  which  men  find 
themselves  involved  by  the  received  doctrines  on  these  sub- 
jects, in  their  most  anxious  efforts  to  explain  and  defend  the 
peculiar  doctrines  of  spiritual  religion,  have  led  many  to  sus- 
pect, that  there  must  be  some  lurking  error  in  the  premises. 
It  is  not,  that  these  principles  lead  us  to  mysteries^  which  we 
cannot  comprehend — they  are  found,  or  believed  at  least  by 
many,  to  involve  us  in  absurdities^  which  we  can  comprehend. 
It  ii  necessary,  indeed,  only  to  form  some  notion  of  the  distinc- 
tive and  appropriate  import  of  the  term  spiritual,  as  opposed 
to  natural  in  the  N.  T.,  and  then  to  look  at  the  writings,  or 
hear  the  discussions,  in  which  the  doctrines  of  the  spirit  and  of 
spiritual  influences  are  taught  and  defended,  to  see  the  insur- 
mountable nature  of  the  obstacles,  which  these  metaphysical 
dogmas  throw  in  the  way  of  the   most   powerful  minds.     To 


XXX  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

those  who  shall  read  this  work  with  any  degree  of  reflection, 
it  must,  I  think,  be  obvious,  that  something  more  is  implied  in 
the  continual  opposition  of  these  terms  in  the  N.  T.,  than  can 
be  explained  consistently  with  the  prevailing  opinions  on  the 
subjects  above  enumerated  ;  and  that,  through  their  influence 
our  highest  notions  of  that  distinction  have  been  rendered  con- 
fused, contradictory,  and  inadequate.  I  have  already  directed 
the  attention  of  the  reader  to  those  parts  of  the  w^ork,  where 
this  distinction  is  unfolded  ;  and  had  I  no  other  grounds  than 
the  arguments  and  views  there  exhibited,  I  should  be  convin- 
ced, that  so  long  as  we  hold  the  doctrines  of  Locke  and  the 
Scotch  metaphysicians  respecting  power,  cause  and  eff*ect,  mo- 
tives, and  the  freedom  of  the  will,  we  not  only  can  make  and 
defend  no  essential  distinction  between  that  which  is  natural, 
and  that  which  is  spiritual j  but  we  cannot  even  find  rational 
grounds  for  the  feeling  of  moral  obligation,  and  the  distinction 
between  regret  and  remorse. 

According  to  the  system  of  these  authors,  as  nearly  and 
distinctly  as  my  limits  will  permit  me  to  state  it,  the  same  law 
of  cause  and  effect  is  the  law  of  the  universe.  It  extends  to 
the  moral  and  spiritual — if  in  courtesy  these  terms  may  still 
be  used — no  less  than  to  the  properly  natural  powers  and  agen- 
cies of  our  being.  The  acts  of  the  free-will  are  pre-deter- 
mined  by  a  cause  out  of  the  will,  according  to  the  same  law  of 
cause  and  efl'ect,  which  controls  the  changes  in  the  physical 
world.  We  have  no  notion  of  power  but  uniformity  of  ante- 
cedent and  consequent.  The  notion  of  a  power  in  the  will 
to  act  freely,  is  therefore  nothing  more  than  an  inherent  capa- 
city of  being  acted  upon,  agreeably  to  its  nature,  and  accord- 
ing to  a  fixed  law,  by  the  motives  which  are  present  in  the 
understanding.  I  feel  authorized  to  take  this  statement  partly 
from  Brown's  philosophy,  because  that  wojk  has  been  deci- 
dedly approved  by  our  highest  theological  authorities ;  and  in- 
deed it  would  not  be  essentially  varied,  if  expressed  in  the 
precise  terms  used  by  any  of  the  writers  most  usually  quoted 
in  reference  to  these  subjects. 

I  am  aware   that  variations  may  be  found  in   the  mode  of 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  X\Xl 

stating  these  doctrines,  but  I  think  every  candid  reader,  who 
is  acquainted  with  the  metaphysics  and  theology  of  this  coun- 
try, will  admit  the  above  to  be  a  fair  representation  of  the  form 
in  which  they  are  generally  received.  I  am  aware,  too,  that 
much  has  been  said  and  written  to  make  out  consistently  with 
these  general  principles,  a  disfincHoPj  between  natural  and 
moral  causes,  natural  and  moral  ability,  and  inability,  &c.  But 
I  beg  all  lovers  of  sound  and  rational  philosophy  to  look  care- 
fully at  the  general  principles,  and  see  whether  there  be,  in 
fact,  ground  left  for  any  such  distinctions  of  this  kind  os  arc 
worth  contending  for.  My  first  step  in  arguing  with  a  defend- 
er of  these  principles,  and  of  the  distinctions  in  question,  as 
connected  with  them,  would  be  to  ask  for  his  definition  oi  na- 
ture and  natural.  And  when  he  had  arrived  at  a  distinctive 
general  notion  of  the  import  of  these,  it  would  appear,  if  I 
mistake  not,  that  he  had  first  subjected  our  whole  being  to  the 
law  of  nature,  and  then  contended  for  the  existence  of  some- 
thing which  is  not  nature.  For  in  their  relation  to  the  law  of 
moral  rectitude,  and  to  the  feeling  of  moral  responsibility, 
what  difference  is  there,  and  what  difference  can  there  be,  be- 
tween what  are  called  natural  and  those  which  are  called  mo- 
ral powers  and  affections,  if  they  are  all  under  the  control  of 
the  same  universal  law  of  cause  and  effect.  If  it  still  be  a  mere 
nature,  and  the  determinations  of  our  will  be  controlled  by 
causes  out  of  the  will,  according  to  our  nature,  then  I  main- 
tain that  a  moral  nature  has  no  more  to  do  with  the  feeling  of 
responsibility  than  any  other  nature. 

Perhaps  the  difficulty  may  be  made  more  obvious  in  this 
way.  It  will  be  admitted  that  brutes  are  possessed  of  various 
natures^  some  innocent  or  useful,  others  noxious,  but  all  alike 
irresponsible  in  a  moral  point  of  view.  But  why  ?  Simply  be- 
cause they  act  in  accordance  w^ith  their  natures.  They  pos- 
sess, each  according  to  its  proper  nature,  certain  appetites  and 
susceptibilities,  which  are  stimulated  and  acted  upon  by  their 
appropriate  objects  in  the  w^orld  of  the  senses,  and  the  rela- 
tion— the  law  of  action  and  reaction — subsisting  between  these 
specific   susceptibilities  and  their  corresponding  outward  ob- 


XXXU  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

jects,  constitutes  their  nature.  They  have  a  power  of  select- 
ing and  choosing  in  the  world  of  sense  the  objects  appropriate 
to  the  wants  of  their  nature ;  but  that  nature  is  the  sole  law 
of  their  being.  Their  power  of  choice  is  but  a  part  of  it^  in- 
strumental in  accomplishing  its  ends,  but  not  capable  of  ris- 
sing  above  it,  of  controlling  its  impulses,  and  of  determining 
itself  with  reference  to  a  purely  ideal  law^  distinct  from  their 
nature.  They  act  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  cause  and 
effect,  which  constitutes  their  several  natures,  and  cannot  do 
otherwise.  They  are,  there/ore,  not  responsible — not  capable 
of  guilt  J  or  of  remorse. 

Now  let  us  suppose  another  being,  possessing,  in  addition  to 
the  susceptibilities  of  the  brute,  certain  other  specific  suscep- 
tibilities with  their  correlative  objects,  either  in  the  sensible 
world,  or  in  a  future  world,  but  that  these  are  subjected,  like 
the  other  to  the  same  binding  and  inalienable  law  of  cause  and 
effect.  What,  I  ask,  is  the  amount  of  the  difference  thus  sup- 
posed between  this  being  and  the  brute  ?  The  supposed  addi- 
tion, it  is  to  be  understood,  is  merely  an  addition  to  its  nature; 
and  the  only  power  of  will  belonging  to  it  is,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  brute,  only  a  capacity  of  choosing  and  acting  uniformly  in 
accordance  with  its  nature.  These  additional  susceptibilities 
still  act  but  as  they  are  acted  upon ;  and  the  will  is  determined 
accordingly.  What  advantage  is  gained  in  this  case  by  calling 
these  supposed  additions  moral  afl'ections,  and  their  correlative 
stimulants  moral  causes?  Do  we  thereby  find  any  ration- 
al ground  for  the  feeling  of  moral  responsibility,  for  conscience, 
for  remorse  ?  The  being  acts  according  to  its  nature^  and 
why  is  it  blameworthy  more  than  the  brute  ?  If  the  moral 
cause  existing  out  of  the  ivill  be  a  power  or  cause  which,  in 
its  relation  to  the  specific  susceptibility  of  the  moral  being, 
produces  under  the  same  circumstances  uniformly  the  same  re- 
sult, according  to  the  law  of  cause  and  effect ;  if  the  acts  of  the 
will  be  subject  to  the  same  law,  as  mere  links  in  the  chain  of 
antecedents  and  consequents,  and  thus  a  part  of  our  nature, 
what  is  gained,  I  ask  again,  by  the  distinction  of  a  moral  and 
a  physical  nature.     It  is  still   only  a  nature  under  the  law  of 


PRELIMIZyTARY    ESSAY.  XXXIII 

cause  and  clTect,  and  the  liberty  of  the  moral  being  is  under 
the  same  condition  with  the  liberty  of  the  brute.  Both  are 
free  to  follow  and  fulfd  the  law  of  their  nature,  and  both  are  ^ 
alike  bound  by  that  law,  as  by  an  adamantine  chain.  The 
very  conditions  of  the  law  preclude  the  possibility  of  a  power 
to  act  otherwise  than  according  to  their  nature.  They  pre- 
clude the  very  idea  of  a  free-will,  and  render  the  feeling  of 
moral  responsibiUty  not  an  enigma  merely,  not  a  mystery,  but 
a  self-contradiction  and  an  absurdity. 

Turn  the  mattei  as  we  will — call  these  correlatives,  viz.  the 
inherent  susceptibilities  and  the  causes  acting  on  them  from 
without,  natural,  or  moral,  or  spiritual — so  long  as  their  action 
and  reaction,  or  the  law  of  reciprocity,  (see  note  67),  which 
constitutes  their  specific  natures,  is  considered  as  the  controll- 
ing law  of  our  ivhole  being,  so  long  as  we  refuse  to  admit  the 
existence  in  the  will  of  a  power  capable  of  rising  above  this 
law,  and  controlling  its  operation  by  an  act  of  absolute  self- 
determination,  so  long  we  shall  be  involved  in  perplexities 
both  in  morals  and  religion.  At  all  events,  the  only  method 
of  avoiding  them  wdll  be  to  adopt  the  creed  of  the  necessita- 
rians entire,  to  give  man  over  to  an  irresponsible  nature  as  a 
better  sort  of  animal,  and  resolve  the  will  of  the  Supreme 
Reason  into  a  blind  and  irrational  fate. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  objections  that  will  be  made  to  this 
statement,  and  especially  the  demonstrated  incompiehensible- 
ness  of  a  self-determining  power.  To  this  I  may  be  permitted 
to  answer,  that,  admitting  the  power  to  originate  an  act  or 
state  of  mind  to  be  beyond  the  capacity  of  our  understandings 
to  comprehend,  it  is  still  not  contradictory  to  reason ;  and  that 
I  find  it  more  easy  to  believe  the  existence  of  that,  which  is  ^ 
simply  incomprehensible  to  my  understanding,  than  of  that, 
which  involves  an  absurdity  for  my  reason.  I  venture  to  af- 
firm, moreover,  that  however  we  may  bring  our  understand- 
ings into  bondage  to  the  more  comprehensible  doctrine,  sim- 
ply because  it  is  comprehensible  under  the  forms  of  the  under- 
standing, every  man  does,  in  fact,  believe  himself  possessed 
of  freedom  in  the  higher  sense  of  self-determination.      Every 

E 


XXXIV  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

man's  conscience  commands  him  to  believe  it,  whenever  for 
a  moment  he  indulges  the  feeling  either  of  moral  self-appro- 
bation, or  of  remorse.  Nor  can  we  on  any  other  grounds 
justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man  upon  the  supposition,  that  he 
inflicts  or  will  inflict  any  other  punishment,  than  that  which  is 
simply  remedial  or  disciplinary.  But  this  subject  will  be  found 
more  fully  explained  in  the  course  of  the  work.  My  present 
object  is  merely  to  show  the  necessity  of  some  system  in  re- 
lation to  these  subjects  different  from  the  received  one. 

It  may  perhaps  be  thought,  that  the  language  used  above  is 
too  strong  and  too  positive.  But  I  venture  to  ask  every  can- 
did man,  at  least  every  one,  who  has  not  committed  himself 
by  writing  and  publishing  on  the  subject,  whether,  in  consider- 
ing the  great  questions  connected  with  moral  accountability 
and  the  doctrine  of  rewards  and  punishments,  he  has  not  felt 
himself  pressed  with  such  difficulties  as  those  above  stated ; 
and  whether  he  has  ever  been  able  fully  to  satisfy  his  reason, 
that  there  was  not  a  lurking  contradiction  in  the  idea  of  a  be- 
ing created  and  placed  under  the  law  of  its  nature,  and  pos- 
sessing at  the  same  time  a  feeling  of  moral  obligation  to  fulfil 
a  law  above  its  nature.  That  many  have  been  in  this  state  of 
mind  I  know.  I  know,  too,  that  some,  whose  moral  and  reli- 
gious feelings  had  led  them  to  a  full  belief  in  the  doctrines  of 
spiritual  religion,  but  who  at  the  same  time  had  been  taught 
to  receive  the  prevailing  opinions  in  metaphysics,  have  found 
these  opinions  carrying  them  unavoidably,  if  they  would  be 
consequent  in  their  reasonings,  and  not  do  violence  to  their 
reason,  to  adopt  a  system  of  religion  which  does  not  profess  to 
be  spiritual,  and  have  thus  been  compelled  to  choose  between 
their  philosophy  and  their  religion.  In  most  cases  indeed, 
where  men  reflect  at  all,  I  am  satisfied  that  it  requires  all  the 
force  of  authority,  and  all  the  influence  of  education,  to  carry 
the  mind  over  these  difficulties ;  and  that  then  it  is  only  by  a 
vague  belief,  that,  though  we  cannot  see  how,  yet  there  must  be 
some  method  of  reconciling  what  seems  to  be  so  contradictory. 

If  examples  were  wanting  to  prove  that  serious  and  trying 
difficulties  are  felt  to  exist  here,  enough  may  be  found,  as  it 


PRELI3IINARY    ESSAY.  XXXV 

has  appeared  to  mc,  in  the  controversy  respecting  the  nature 
and  origin  of  sin,  which  is  at  this  moment  interesting  thepuh- 
lic  mind.     Let  any  impartial   observer  trace  the  progress  of 
that  discussion,  and  after  examining  the  distinctions,  which  are 
made  or  attempted  to  be  made,  decide  whether  the  subject,  as 
there  presented,  be  not  involved  in  difficulties,  which   cannot 
be  solved  on  the   principles,   to  which,  hitherto,  both  parties 
have  adhered ;  whether,  holding  as  they  do  the  same  premi- 
ses in  regard  to  the  freedom  of  the  will,  they  can  avoid  coming 
to    the  same  conclusion    in   regard  to  the  nature    and  origin 
of  sin ;  whether,  in    fact,  the  distinctions  aimed  at   must    not 
prove  merely  verbal  distinctions,  and  the  controversy  a  fruit- 
less   one.     But  in  the   September  number  of  the    Christian 
Spectator,  the    reader  will   find  remarks    on  this  subject,    to 
which  I  beg  leave  to  refer  him,  and  which  1  could  wish  him 
attentively  to  consider  in  connexion  with   the  remarks  which 
I  have  made.     I  allude  to  the  correspondence  with  the  editors 
near  the  end  of  the  number.    The  letter  there  inserted  is  said 
to  be,  and  obviously  is,  from  the  pen  of  a  very  learned  and  able 
writer ;  and  1  confess  it  has  been  no  small  gratification  and  en- 
couragement to  me,  while  labouring  to  bring  this  work  and  this 
subject  before  the  public,  to  find  such  a  state  of  feeling  express- 
ed, concerning^the  great  question  at  issue,  by  such  a  writer.    It 
will  be  seen  by  reference  to  p.  545  of  the  C.  S.,  that  he  pla- 
ces the  "  nucleus  of  the  dispute"  just  where  it  is  placed  in  this 
work  and  in  the  above  remarks.     It  will  be  seen,  too,  that  by 
throwing  authorities  aside,  and  studying  his  own  mind,  he  has 
"  come   seriously  to  doubt,"  whether  the  received   opinions 
with  regard  to  motives^  the  law  of  cause  and  effect^  and   the 
freedom  of  the  loill,  may  not  be  erroneous.     They  appear  to 
him  "  to  be   bordenng  on  fatalism,  if  not  actually  embracing 
it."     He  doubts,  whether  the  mind  may  not  have  within  itself 
the  adequate  cause  of  its  own  acts  ;  whether  indeed  it  have  not 
a  self-determining  power,  "for  the  power  in  question  involves 
the  idea  of  originating  volition.     Less  than  this  it  cannot  be 
conceived  to  involve,  and  yet  be /ree  agency."     Now  this  is 
just  the  view  offered  in  the  present  work  ;  and,  as  it  seems  to 


XXXVl  AIDS    TO     REFLECTION. 

me,  these  are  just  the  doubts  and  conclusions,  which  every 
one  will  entertain,  who  lays  aside  authority,  and  reflects  upon 
the  goings-on  of  his  own  mind,  and  the  dictates  of  his  own 
reason  and  conscience. 

But  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  remarks  of  the  editors 
in  reply  to  the  letter  above  quoted.    They  maintain,  in  relation 
to  original  sin  and  the  perversion  of  the  will,  that  from  either 
the  original  or  the  acquired  strength  of  certain  natural  appe- 
tites,  principles  of  self-love,    &c.,  "left  to    themselves,"  the 
corruption  of  the  heart  will  certainly  follow.     "  In  every  in- 
stance the  will  does,  in  fact,  yield  to  the  demands  of  these. 
But  whenever  it  thus  yielded,  there  was  poiuer  to  the  contrary  ; 
otherwise  there  could  be  no  freedom  of  moral  action."     Now 
I  beg  leave  to  place  my  finger  on  the  phrase  in  italics,  and  ask 
the  editors  what  they  mean  by  it.     If  they  hold  the  common 
doctrines  with   regard  to  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  and 
with  regard  to  poiver   as  connected  with   that   relation,   and 
apply  these  to  the  acts  of  the  will,  I  can  see   no  more  possi- 
bility of  conceiving  a  poiver  to  the  contrary  in  this  case,  than 
of  conceiving  such  a  power  in  the  current  of  a  river.     But  if 
they  mean  to  assert  the  existence  in  the  will  of  an  actual  pow- 
er to  rise  above  the  demands  of  appetite,  &c.,  above  the  law 
of  nature,  and  to  decide  arbitrarily^  whether  to  yield  or  not 
to  yield,  then  they  admit,  that  the  will  is  not  determined  abso- 
lutely by  the  extraneous  cause,  but  is   in  fact  5e//'-determined. 
They  agree  with  the  letter-writer  ;  and  the  question  for  them 
is  at  rest.     Thus,   whatever   distinctions  may  be    attempted 
here,  there  can  be   no  real  distinction,  but  between  an  irres- 
ponsible nature  and  a  will  that  is  self-determined.     The  read- 
er will  find  a  few  additional  remarks  on  this  topic  in  note  45, 
and  for  the  general  views  of  the  work  is  again  referred  to  note 
29,  and  the  references  there  made.    To  the  subject  of  that  note 
and  to  the  great  distinction  between  nature  and  the  will,  be- 
tween the  natural  and  the  spiritual,  as  imfolded  in  the  work, 
I  must  beg  leave,  also,  again  to  request  the  special  and  candid 
attention^of  the  reader.  I  must  beg,  too,  the  unprejudiced  atten- 
tion of  every  reader,   friendly  to  the  cause   of  practical  and 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XXX  Vll 


spiritual  religion,  to  the  tendency  of  this  part  of  the  autlior's 
system,  and  of  the  remarks  hazarded  above. 

I  cannot  but  be  aware,  that  the  views  of  the  will  here  ex- 
hibited will  meet  with  strong  prejudices  in  a  large  portion,  at 
least,  of  our  religious  community.  I  could  wish  that  all  such 
would  carefully  distinguish  between  the  author's  views  of  the 
doctrines  of  religion,  and  the  philosophical  grounds,  on  which 
he  supposes  those  doctrines  are  to  be  defended.  If  no  one 
disputes,  and  I  trust  no  one  will  dispute,  the  substantial  ortho- 
doxy of  the  work,  without  first  carefully  examining  w^hat  has 
been  the  orthodoxy  of  the  church  in  general,  and  of  the  great 
body  of  the  reformers,  then  I  could  hope  it  may  be  wisely 
considered,  whether,  as  a  question  of  philosophy,  the  meta- 
physical principles  of  this  work  are  not  in  themselves  more  in 
accordance  with  the  doctrines  of  a  spiritual  religion,  and  bet- 
ter suited  to  their  explanation  and  defence,  than  those  above 
treated  of.  If  on  examination  it  cannot  be  disputed  that  they 
are,  then,  if  not  before,  I  trust  the  two  system.s  may  be  com- 
pared without  undue  partiality,  and  the  simple  question  of  the 
truth  of  each  may  be  determined  by  that  calm  and  persevering 
reflection,  which  alone  can  determine  questions  of  this  sort. 

If  the  system  here  taught  be  true,  then  it  will  follow,  not, 
be  it  observed,  that  our  religion  is  necessarily  wrong,  or  our 
essential  faith  erroneous,  but  that  the  philosophical  grounds^ 
on  which  we  are  accustomed  to  defend  our  faith,  are  unsafe, 
and  that  their  natural  tendency  is  to  error.  If  the  spirit  of 
the  gospel  still  exert  its  influence  ;  if  a  truly  spiritual  religion 
be  maintained,  it  is  in  opposition  to  our  philosophy,  and  not 
at  all  by  its  aid.  I  know  it  will  be  said,  that  the  practical  re- 
sults of  our  peculiar  forms  of  doctrine  are  at  variance  w-ith 
these  remarks.  But  this  I  am  not  prepared  to  admit.  True, 
religion  and  religious  institutions  have  flourished ;  the  gospel, 
in  many  parts  of  our  country,  has  been  aff'ectionately  and  faith- 
fully preached  by  great  and  good  men  ;  the  word  and  the  spi- 
rit of  God  have  been  communicated  to  us  in  rich  abundance ; 
and  I  rejoice,  with  heartfelt  joy  and  thanksgiving,  in  the  belief, 
that  thereby  multitudes  have  been  regenerated  to  a  new  and 


XXXVlll  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION". 

spiritaal  life.  But  so  were  equal  or  greater  effects  produced 
under  the  preaching  of  Baxter,  and  Howe,  and  other  good 
and  faithful  men  of  the  same  age,  with  none  of  the  peculiari- 
ties of  our  theological  systems.  Neither  reason  nor  experi- 
ence indeed  furnish  any  ground  for  believing,  that  the  living 
and  life-giving  power  of  the  Divine  Word  has  ever  derived 
any  portion  of  its  efficacy,  in  the  conversion  of  the  heart  to 
God,  from  the  forms  of  metaphysical  theology,  with  which  the 
human  understanding  has  invested  it.  It  requires,  moreover, 
but  little  knowledge  of  the  history  of  philosophy,  and  of  the 
writings  of  the  16th  and  17th  centuries  to  know,  that  the 
opinions  of  the  reformers  and  of  all  the  great  divines  of  that 
period,  on  subjects  of  this  sort,  were  far  different  from  those  of 
Mr.  Locke  and  his  followers,  and  were  in  fact  essentially  the 
same  with  those  taught  in  this  work.  This  last  remark  ap- 
plies not  only  to  the  views  entertained  by  the  eminent  phi- 
losophers and  divines  of  that  period  on  the  particular  subject 
above  discussed,  but  to  the  distinctions  made,  and  the  language 
employed,  by  them  with  reference  to  other  points  of  no  less 
importance  in  the  constitution  of  our  being. 

It  must  have  been  observed  by  the  reader  of  the  foregoing 
pages,  that  I  have  used  several  words,  especially  understand- 
ing and  reason,  in  a  sense  somewhat  diverse  from  their  pre- 
sent acceptation  ;  and  the  occasion  of  this  I  suppose  would  be 
partly  understood  from  my  having  already  directed  the  attention 
of  the  reader  to  the  distinction  exhibited  between  these  words 
in  the  work,  and  from  the  remarks  made  on  the  ambiguity  of 
the  word  reason  in  its  common  use.  I  now  proceed  to  remark, 
that  the  ambiguity  spoken  of,  and  the  consequent  perplexity 
in  regard  to  the  use  and  authority  of  reason,  have  arisen  from 
the  habit  of  using,  since  the  time  of  Locke,  the  terms  under- 
standing and  reason  indiscriminately,  and  thus  confounding  a 
distinction  clearly  marked  in  the  philosophy  and  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  older  writers.  Alas  !  had  the  terms  only  been 
confounded,  or  had  we  suffered  only  an  inconvenient  ambigui- 
"^  ty  of  language,  there  would  be  comparatively  little  cause  for 
earnestness  upon  the  subject ;    or  had  our  views  of  the  things 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XXXIX 

signified  by  these  terms  been  only  partially  confused,  and  had 
we  still  retained  correct  notions  of  our  prerogative,  as  ration- 
al and  spiritual  beings,  the  consequences  might  have  been  less 
deplorable.  But  the  misfortune  is,  that  the  powers  of  under- 
standing and  reason  have  not  merely  been  blended  and  con- 
founded in  the  view  of  our  philosophy,  the  higher  and  far  more 
characteristic,  as  an  essential  constituent  of  our  proper  human- 
ity, has  been  as  it  were  o1)Scured  and  hidden  from  our  obser- 
vation in  the  inferior  power,  which  belongs  to  us  in  common 
with  the  brutes  that  perish.  According  to  the  old,  the  more 
spiritual,  and  genuine  philosophy,  the  distinguishing  attributes 
of  our  humanity — that  "image  of  God"  in  which  man  alone 
was  created  of  all  the  dwellers  upon  earth,  and  in  virtue  of 
which  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  this  lower  world,  was  said 
to  be  found  in  the  reason  and  free'ivill.  But  understanding 
these  in  their  strict  and  proper  sense  and  according  to  the  true 
ideas  of  them,  as  contemplated  by  the  older  metaphysicians, 
we  have  literally,  if  the  system  of  Locke  and  the  popular  phi- 
losophy of  the  day  be  true,  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of 
these — neither  reason  nor  free-will.  What  they  esteemed  the 
image  of  God  in  the  soul,  and  considered  as  distinguishing  us 
specifically,  and  so  vastly  too,  above  each  and  all  of  the  irra- 
tional animals,  is  found,  according  to  this  system,  to  have  in 
fact  no  real  existence.  The  reality  neither  of  the  free-will, 
nor  of  any  of  those  laws  or  ideas,  which  spring  from,  or  ra- 
ther constitute,  reason,  can  be  authenticated  by  the  sort  of 
proof  which  is  demanded,  and  we  must  therefore  relinquish 
our  prerogative,  and  take  our  place  with  becoming  humility 
among  our  more  unpretending  companions.  In  the  ascending 
series  of  powers,  enumerated  by  Milton,  with  so  much  philo- 
sophical truth,  as  well  as  beauty  of  language,  in  the  fifth  book 
of  Paradise  Lost,  he  mentions 

Fcmcy  and  understanding,  wlience  the  soul 
Reasojv  receives.     And  reason  is  her  being, 
Discursive  or  intuitive. 

But  the  highest  power  here,  that  which   is  the   Being  of  the 
soul,  considered  as  any  thing  diflering  in  kind  from  the  under- 


Xl  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

standing,  has  no  place  in  our  popular  metaphysics.     Thus  we 
have  only  the  imclerstandijigj  "  the  faculty  judging  according 
to  sense,"  a  faculty  of  abstracting  and  generalizing,  of  contri- 
vance and  forecast,  as  the  highest  of  our  intellectual  powers  ; 
and  this  we  are  expressly  taught  belongs  to  us  in  common  with 
brutes.     Nay,  these  views  of  our  essential  being,  consequen- 
ces and  all,  are  adopted  by  men,  whom  one  would  suppose 
religion,  if  not   philosophy,  should  have  taught  their  utter  in- 
adequateness  to  the  true  and  essential  constituents  of  our  hu- 
manity.    Dr.  Paley  tells    us  in  his   Nat.  Theology,  that  only 
"  CONTRIVANCE,"  a  power  obviously  and   confessedly  belong- 
ing to   brutes,   is   necessary  to    constitute  personality.     His 
whole   system   both  of  theology  and  morals  neither  teaches, 
nor  implies,  the  existence  of  any  specific  difference  either  be- 
tween the  understanding  and  reason,  or  between  nature  and 
the  will.     It  does  not  imply  the  existence  of  any  power  in 
man,  which  does  not  obviously  belong  in  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree to    irrational  animals.     Dr.  Fleming,    another  reverend 
prelate  in  the  English  church,  in  his  "Philosophy  of  Zoology," 
maintains  in  express  terms,  that  we  have  no  faculties  differing 
in  kind  from  those  which  belong  to  brutes.     How  many  other 
learned,  and  reverend,  and  wise  men  adopt  the  same  opinions,  I 
know  not:  though  these  are  are  obviously  not  the  peculiar  viev/s 
of  the  individuals,  but  connclusions  resulting  from  the  essential 
principles  of  their  system.     If,  then,  there  is  no  better  ^?/s/em, 
if  this  be  the  genuine  philosophy,  and  founded  in  the  nature 
of  things,  there  is  no  help  for  us,  and  we  must  believe  it — if 
we  can.     But  most  certainly  it  will  follow,  that  we  ought,  as 
fast  as  the  prejudices  of  education  will  permit,  to  rid  ourselves 
of  certain  notions   of  prerogative,  and  certain  feelings  of  our 
own  superiority,  which  somehow  have  been  strangely  preva- 
lent among  our  race.     For  though  we  have  indeed,  according 
to  this  system,  a  little  mo7X  understanding  than  other  animals — 
can  abstract  and  generalize  and  fore-cast  events,  and  the  con- 
sequences of  our  actions,  and  compare  motives  mo7'e  skilfully 
than  they  ;  though  we  have  thus  more  knowledge  and  can  cir- 
cumvent them  ;  though  we  have  more  power  and  can   subdue 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAT. 


xli 


them;  yet,  as  to  any  distinctive  and  j)eculiar  characteristic — 
as  to  any  inherent  and  essential  worthy  we  are  after  all  but  lit- 
tle better — though  we  may  be  better  off — than  our  dogs  and 
horses.  There  is  no  essential  difference,  and  we  may  ration- 
ally doubt — at  least  we  might  do  so,  it  by  the  supposition  we 
were  rational  beings — whether  our  fellow  animals  of  the  ken- 
nel and  the  stall  are  not  unjustly  deprived  of  certain  ^personal 
rightSj  and  whether  a  dog  charged  with  trespass  may  not  ra- 
tionally claim  to  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  his  peers.  Now  how- 
ever trifling  and  ridiculous  this  may  appear,  I  would  ask  in 
truth  and  soberness,  if  it  be  not  a  fair  and  legitimate  inference 
from  the  premises,  and  whether  the  absurdity  of  the  one  does 
not  demonstrate  the  utter  falsity  of  the  other.  And  where,  I 
would  beg  to  know,  shall  we  look,  according  to  the  popular 
system  of  philosophy,  for  that  "image  of  God"  in  which  we 
are  created?  Is  it  a  thing  of  degrees?  and  is  it  simply  be- 
cause we  have  something  more  of  the  same  faculties  which 
belong  to  brutes,  that  we  become  the  objects  of  God's  special 
and  fatherly  care,  the  distinguished  objects  of  his  Providence, 
and  the  sole  objects  of  his  Grace  ? — "  Doth  God  take  care  for 
oxen  ?"  But  why  not  ? 

I  assure  my  readers,  that  I  have  no  desire  to  treat  with  dis- 
respect and  contumely  the  opinions  of  great  or  good  men  ;  but 
the  distinction  in  question,  and  the  assertion  and  exhibition  of 
the  higher  prerogatives  of  reason,  as  an  essential  constituent 
of  our  being,  are  so  vitally  important,  in  my  apprehension,  to 
the  formation  and  support  of  any  rational  system  of  philoso- 
phy, and — no  less  than  the  distinction  before  treated  of — so 
pregnant  of  consequences  to  the  interests  of  truth,  in  morals, 
and  religion,  and  indeed  of  all  truth,  that  mere  opinion  and 
the  authority  of  names  may  well  be  disregarded.  The  discus- 
sion, moreover,  relates  to  facts,  and  to  such  facts,  too,  as  are 
not  to  be  learned  from  the  instruction,  or  received  on  the  au- 
thority, of  any  man.  They  must  be  ascertained  by  every  man 
for  himself,  by  reflection  upon  the  processes  and  laws  of  his 
own  inward  being,  or  they  are  not  learned  at  all  to  any  valua- 
ble purpose.     We  do  indeed  i\nd  in  ourselves  then,  as  no  one 

F 


xlii 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


will  deny,  certain  powers  of  intelligence,  which  w^e  have 
abundant  reason  to  believe  the  brutes  possess  in  common  with 
us  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  The  functions  of  the  under- 
standing, as  treated  of  in  the  popular  systems  of  metaphysics, 
its  Acuities  of  attention,  of  abstraction,  of  generalization,  the 
power  of  forethought  and  contrivance,  of  adapting  means  to 
ends,  and  the  law  of  association,  may  be,  so  far  as  we  can 
judge,  severally  represented  more  or  less  adequately  in  the 
instinctive  inteUigence  of  the  higher  orders  of  brutes.  But, 
not  to  anticipate  too  far  a  topic  treated  of  in  the  work,  do 
these,  or  any  and  all  the  faculties  which  we  discover  in  irra- 
tional animals,  satisfactorily  account  to  a  reflecting  mind  for 
all  the  pheenomena,  which  are  presented  to  our  observation 
in  our  own  consciousness  ?  Would  any  supposable  addition  to 
the  degree  merely  of  those  powers  which  we  ascribe  to  brutes 
render  them  rational  he'mgs^  and  remove  the  sacred  distinction, 
which  law  and  reason  have  sanctioned,  between  things  and 
persons  ?  Will  any  such  addition  account  for  our  having — 
what  the  brute  is  not  supposed  to  have — the  pure  ideas  of  the 
geometrician,  the  power  of  ideal  construction,  the  intuition  of 
geometrical  or  other  necessary  and  universal  truths  ?  Would 
it  give  rise,  in  irrational  animals,  to  a  laiv  of  "moral  rectitude 
and  to  conscience — to  the  feelings  of  moral  responsibility  and 
remorse  9  Would  it  awaken  them  to  a  reflective  self-conscious- 
ness, and  lead  them  to  form  and  contemplate  the  ideas  of  the 
soul^  o(  free-ivillj  of  immortality^  and  of  God.  It  seems  to 
me,  that  we  have  only  to  reflect  for  a  serious  hour  upon  what 
w^e  mean  by  these,  and  then  to  compare  them  with  our  no- 
tion of  what  belongs  to  a  brute,  its  inherent  powers  and  their 
correlative  objects,  to  feel  that  they  are  utterly  incompatible — 
that  in  the  possession  of  these  we  enjoy  a  prerogative,  which 
we  cannot  disclaim  without  a  violation  of  reason,  and  a  volun- 
tary abasement  of  ourselves — and  that  we  must  therefore  be 
possessed  of  some  peculiar  powers — of  some  source  of  ideas 
distinct  from  the  understanding,  differing  in  kind  from  any  and 
all  of  those  which  belong  to  us  in  common  with  inferior  and 
irrational  animals. 


PRELIMINARY    lOSSAY.  xHii 

But  what  these  powers  are,  or  what  is  the  precise  nature  of 
the  distinction  hetween  the  understanding  and  reason,  it  is  not 
my  province,  nor  have  1  undertaken,  to  show.     My  object  is 
merely  to  illustrate  its  necessity,  and  the   palpable  obscurity, 
vagueness,  and  deficiency,  in  this  respect,  of  the  mode  of  phi- 
losophizing, which  is  held  in  so  high  honour  among  us.     The 
distinction  itself  will  be  found  illustrated  with  some  of  its  im- 
portant bearings  in  the  work,  and  in  the  notes  and  Appendix  at- 
tached to  it ;  and  cannot  be  too  carefully  studied — in  connex- 
ion with  that  between  nature  and  the  will — by  the  student  who 
would  acquire  distinct  and  intelligible  notions  of  what  consti- 
tutes the  truly  spiritual  in  our  being,  or  find  rational  grounds  for 
the  possibility  of  a  truly  spiritual  religion.    Indeed,  could  I  suc- 
ceed in  fixing  the  attention  of  the  reader  upon  this  distinction, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  his  candid  and  reflecting  perusal  of 
the  work,  I  should    consider  any  personal  effort   oi   sacrifice 
abundantly  recompensed.     Nor  am  I  alone  in  this  view  of  its 
importance.     A  literary  friend,  whose  opinion  on  this  subject 
would  be  valued  by  all  who  know  the  soundness  of  his  schol- 
arship, says,  in  a  letter  just  now  received,  "  if  you  can  once 
get  the   attention  of  thinking  men  fixed  on  his  distinction  be- 
tween the  reason  and  the   understanding,  you  will  have  done 
enough  to  reward  the  labour  of  a  life.     As  prominent  a  place 
as  it  holds  in  the  writings  of  Coleridge,  he  seems  to  me   far 
enough  from  making  too  much  of  it."     No  person  of   serious 
and  philosophical  mind,  I  am  confident,  can    reflect  upon  the 
subject,  enough  to  understand  it  in  its  various  aspects,  without 
arriving  at  the  same  views  of  the  importance  of  the  distinction, 
whatever  may  be  his  conviction  with  regard  to  its  truth. 

But  indeed  the  only  g^-ound,  which  I  find,  to  apprehend  that 
the  reality  of  the  distinction  and  the  importance  of  the  conse- 
quences resulting  from  it  will  be  much  longer  denied  and  re- 
jected among  us,  is  in  the  overweening  assurance,  which  pre- 
vails with  regard  to  the  adequateness  and  perfection  of  the 
system  of  philosophy  which  is  already  received.  It  is  taken 
for  granted,  as  a  fact  undisputed  and  indisputable,  that  this  is 
the  most  enliditened  aire  of  (he  \\orld,    not  onlv  in   regard  to 


Xliv  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


the  more  general  diffusion  of  certain  points  of  practical  knowl- 
edge, in  which,  probably,  it  may  be   so,  but  in  all  respects  ; 
that  our  whole  system  of  the  philosophy  of  mind  as  derived  from 
Ld.  Bacon,  especially,  is  the  only  one,  which  has  any  claims 
to  common  sense  ;  and  that  all  distinctions  not  recognized  in 
that   are  consequently  unworthy  of  our  regard.     What  those 
reformers,    to  whose    transcendent   powers   of  mind,   and  to 
whose  characters  as  truly  spiritual  divines,  we  are  accustomed 
to  look  with  feelingsj^of  so  much  general  regard,  might  find  to 
say  in  favour  of  their  philosophy,  few  take  the  pains  to  inquire. 
Neither  they  nor  the  great  philosophers,  with  whom  they  held 
communion  on  subjects  of  this  sort,  can  appear  among  us  to 
speak  in   their  own  defence ;  and  even  the    huge  Folios  and 
Quartos,  in  which,  though  dead,  they  yet  speak — and  ought  to 
be  heard — have   seldom  strayed  to  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
All  our  information  respecting  their  philosophical  opinions,  and 
the  grounds  on  which  they  defended  them,  has  been  received 
from  writers,  v.'ho  were   confessedly  advocating  a   system  of 
recent  growth,  at  open  war  with  every  thing  more  ancient, 
and  who,  in  the  great  abundance  of  their   self-complacency, 
have  represented  their  own  discoveries  as  containing  the  sum 
and  substance  of  all  philosophy,  and  the  accumulated  treasures 
of  ancient  wisdom  as  unworthy  the  attention  of  "this  enlight- 
ened age."     Be  it  so. — Yet  the  "foolishness"  of  antiquity,  if 
it  be  "  of  God,"  may  prove  "  wiser   than  men."     It  may  be 
found,  that  the  philosophy  of  the  reformers  and  their  religion 
are  essentially  connected,  and  must  stand  or  fall  together.     It 
may  at  length  be  discovered,  that  a  system  of  religion  essen- 
tially spiritual,  and  a  system  of  philosophy  that   excludes  the 
very  idea  of  all  spiritual  power  and  agency,  in  their  only  dis- 
tinctive and  proper  character,  cannot  be  consistently  associated 
together. 

It  is  our  peculiar  misfortune  in  this  country,  that  while  the 
philosophy  of  Locke  and  the^Scottislr, writers  has  been  receiv- 
ed in  full  faith,  as  the  only  rational  system,  and  its  leading 
principles  especially  passed  off  as  unquestionable,  the  strong 
attachment  to  religion,    and  the  fondness  for  speculation,  by 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  XlV 

both  of  which   we  are  strongly  characterized,  have  led  us  to 
combine  and  associate  these  principles,  such  as  they  are,  with 
our  religious  interests  and  opinions,  so  variously  and  so  inti- 
mately, that  by  most  persons  they  are  considered  as  necessa- 
ry parts  of  the  same  system ;  and  from  being  so  long  contem- 
plated together,  the  rejection  of  one  seems  impossible  without 
doing  violence  to  the  other.     Yet  how  much  evidence  might 
not  an  impartial  observer  find  in  examining  the  theological  dis- 
cussions   that  have  prevailed,  the   speculative  systems,  that 
have  been  formed  and  arrayed  against  each  other,  for  the  last 
seventy  years,  to  convince  him,  that  there  must  be  some  discord- 
ance in  the  elements,  some  principle  of  secret  but  irreconcila- 
ble hostility  between  a  philosophy  and  a  religion,  which,  under 
every  ingenious  variety  of  form  and  shaping,  still  stand  aloof 
from  each    other,  and  refuse  to  cohere.     For  is  it  not  a  fact, 
that  in  regard    to   every  speculative  system,  which  has  been 
formed  on  these  philosophical  principles, — to  every  new  sha- 
ping of  theory,  which  has  been  devised  and  gained  its  adhe- 
rents among  us, — is  it  not  a  fact,  I  ask,  that,  to  all,  except  those 
adherents,  the  system — the   philosophical  theory — has  seemed 
dangerous  in  its  tendency,  and  at  war  with  orthodox  views  of 
religion — perhaps  even  with  the   attributes  of  God.     Nay,  to 
bring  the   matter  still  nearer  and  more  plainly  to  view,  I  ask, 
whether  at  this  moment  the  organs  and  particular  friends  of 
our  leading  theological  seminaries  in  New  England,  both  de- 
votedly attached   to  an  orthodox  and  spiritual  system  of  reli- 
gion, and  expressing  mutual  confidence  as  to  the  essentials  of 
their  mutual  faith,  do  not  each  consider  the  other  as  holding  a 
philosophical  theory  subversive   of  orthodoxy  ?     If  I   am  not 
misinformed,  this  is  the  simple  fact. 

Now,  if  these  things  be  so,  I  would  ask  again  with  all  earnest- 
ness, and  out  of  regard  to  the  interests  of  truth  alone,  whether 
serious  and  reflecting  men  may  not  be  permitted,  without  the 
charge  of  heresy  in  Religion,  to  stand  in  doubt  of  this  Phi- 
losophy altogether  ;  wliether  these  facts,  which  will  not  be 
disputed,  do  not  furnish  just  ground  for  suspicion,  that  the 
principles  of  our  philoso})hy  may  be  erroneous,  or  at  least  in- 


Xlvi  AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 

duce  us  to  look  with  candour  and  impartiality  at  the  claims  of 
another  and  a  different  system. 

What  are  the  claims  of  the  system,  to  which  the  attention 
of  the  public  is  invited  in  this  work,  can  be  understood  fully, 
only  by  a  careful    and  reflecting  examination  of  its  principles 
in  connexion  with  the  conscious  wants  of  our  own  inward  be- 
ing— the    requirements  of  our    own  reason  and  consciences. 
Its  purpose  and  tendency,  I  have  endeavoured  in  some  meas- 
ure to  exhibit;  and  if  the   influence  of  authority,  which  the 
prevailing  system  furnishes  against  it  can,  and  must  be  coun- 
teracted by  any  thing  of  a  like  kind — ( and  whatever  profes- 
sions  we  may  make,  the  influence  of  authority  produces  at 
least  a  predisposing  eflect  upon  our  minds) — the  remark  which 
I  have  made,  will  show,  that  the  principles  here  taught  are  not 
wholly  unauthorized  by  men,  whom  we  have  been  taught    to 
reverence  among  the  great  and  good.     I  cannot  but  add,  as  a 
matter  of  simple  justice   to  the  question,   that  however  our 
prevailing  system  of  philosophizing  may  have  appealed  to  the 
authority  of  Lord  Bacon,  it  needs  but  a  candid  examination  of 
his  writings,  especially  the  first  part  of  his  Novum  Organum, 
to  be  convinced,  that  such   an  appeal  is  without  grounds ;  and 
that  in  fact  the  fundamental  principles  of  his  philosophy  are 
the  same  with  those  taught  in  this  work.    The  great  distinction, 
especially,  between  the  understanding  and  the  reason  is  clear- 
ly and  fully  recognized  ;  and  as  a  philosopher  he  would  be  far 
more  properly  associated   with  Plato  or  even  Aristotle,    than 
with  the  modern  philosophers,  who  have  miscalled  their  sys- 
tems by  his  name.     For  farther  remarks  on  this   point,   the 
reader  is  requested  to  refer  to  notes  50  and  59.     In  our  own 
times,  moreover,  there  is   abundant  evidence,  whatever   may 
be  thought  of  the  principles  of  this  work  here,  that  the  same 
general  views   of  philosophy  are  regaining  their  ascendancy 
elsewhere.     In  Great  Britain  there  are  not  a  few,  who  begin 
to  believe,  that  the  deep  toned  and  sublime  eloquence  of  Cole- 
ridge on  these  great  subjects  may  have  something  to   claim 
their  attention  besides  a  few  peculiarities  of  language.     At 
Paris,  the  doctrines  of  a  rational  and  spiritual  system  of  phi- 


PRELIMINARY    ESSAY.  xlvii 

losophy  arc  taught  to  listening  and  admiring  thousands  by  one 
of  the  most  learned  and  eloquent  philosophers  of  the  age  : 
and  in  Germany,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  same  general  views  are 
adopted  by  the  serious  friends  of  religious  truth  among  her 
great  and  learned  men. 

Such — as  I  have  no  doubt — must  be  the  case,  wherever 
thinking  men  can  be  brought  distinctly  and  impartially  to  ex- 
amine their  claims  ;  and  indeed,  to  those  who  shall  study  and 
comprehend  the  general  history  of  philosophy,  it  must  always 
be  matter  of  special  wonder,  that  in  a  christian  community,  anx- 
iously striving  to  explain  and  defend  the  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity in  their  spiritual  sense,  there  should  have  been  a  long  con- 
tinued and  tenacious  adherence  to  philosophical  principles,  so 
subversive  of  their  faith  in  every  thing  distinctively  spiritual  ; 
while  those  of  an  opposite  tendency,  and  claiming  a  near  rela- 
tionship and  correspondence  with  the  truly  spiritual  in  the 
christian  system,  and  the  mysteries  of  its  sublime  faith,  were 
looked  upon  wdth  suspicion  and  jealousy,  as  unintelligible  or 
dangerous  metaphysics. 

And  here  I  must  be  allowed  to  add  a  few  remarks  with  re- 
gard to  the  popular  objections  against  the  system  of  philoso- 
phy, whose  claims  I  am  urging,  especially  against  the  writings 
of  the  author,  under  w^hose  name  it  appears  in  the  present 
work.  These  are  various  and  often  contradictory,  but  usually 
have  reference  either  to  his  peculiarities  of  language,  or  to  the 
depth — whether  apparent  or  real, — and  the  uninteUigibleness, 
of  his  thoughts. 

To  the  first  of  these  it  seems  to  me  a  sufficient  answer,  for 
a  mind  that  w^ould  deal  honestly  and  frankly  by  itself,  to  sug- 
gest that  in  the  very  nature  of  things  it  is  impossible  for  a  wri- 
ter to  express  by  a  single  word  any  truth,  or  to  mark  any  dis- 
tinction, not  recognized  in  the  language  of  his  day,  unless 
he  adopts  a  word  entirely  new,  or  gives  to  one  already  in  use  a 
new  and  more  peculiar  sense.  Now  in  communicating  truths, 
which  the  writer  deems  of  great  and  fundamental  importance, 
shall  he  thus  appropriate  a  single  word  old  or  new,  or  trust  to 
the    vagueness   of  perpetual  circumlocution  ?     Admitting  for 


Xlviii  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

example,  the  existence  of  the  important  distinction,  for  which 
this  writer  contends,  between  the  understanding  and  reason, 
and  that  this  distinction,  when  recognized  at  all,  is  confounded 
in  the  common  use  of  language  by  employing  the  words  in- 
discriminately, shall  he  still  use  these  words  indiscriminately, 
and  either  invent  a  new  word,  or  mark  the  distinction  by  de- 
scriptive circumlocutions,  or  shall  he  assign  a  more  distinctive 
and  precise  meaning  to  the  words  already  used  ?  It  seems  to 
me  obviously  more  in  accordance  with  the  laws  and  genius 
of  language  to  take  the  course,  which  he  has  adopted.  But  in 
this  case  and  in  many  others,  where  his  language  seems  pecul- 
iar, it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  words  had  already  been  em- 
ployed in  the  same  sense,  and  the  same  distinctions  recogni- 
zed, by  the  older  and  many  of  the  most  distinguished  writers 
in  the  language.  But  the  reader  will  find  the  author's  own 
views  of  the  subject  in  the  Appendix,  pp.  347 — 348,  and  pp. 
355—357,  and  p.  397.     See  also  note  22. 

j^  With  regard  to  the  more  important  objection,  that  the 
(  thoughts  of  Coleridge  are  unintelligible^  if  it  be  intended  to 
./imply,  that  his  language  is  not  in  itself  expressive  of  an  intel- 
ligible meaning,  or  that  he  affects  the  appearance  of  depth  and 
mystery,  while  his  thoughts  are  common-place,  it  is  an  objec- 
tion, which  no  one  who  has  read  his  works  attentively,  and 
acquired  a  feeling  of  interest  for  them,  will  treat  their  author 
with  so  much  disrespect  as  to  answer  at  all.  Every  such  rea- 
der knoivSj  that  he  uses  words  uniformly  with  astonishing  pre- 
cision, and  that  language  becomes,  in  his  use  of  it — in  a  de- 
gree, of  which  few  writers  can  give  us  a  conception — a  living 
powder,  "  consubstantial"  with  the  power  of  thought,  that  gave 
birth  to  it,  and  awakening  and  calling  into  action  a  correspon- 
ding energy  in  our  own  minds.  There  is  little  encourage- 
ment, moreover,  to  answer  the  objections  of  any  man,  who 
will  permit  himself  to  be  incurably  prejudiced  against  an  au- 
thor by  a  few  peculiarities  of  language,  or  an  apparent  difficul- 
ty of  being  understood,  and  without  enquiring  into  the  cause  of 
that  difficulty,  where  at  the  same  time  he  cannot  but  see  and 
acknowledge  the  presence  of  great  intellectual  and  moral  pow- 
er. 


PRELIMINARY     ESSAY.  xHx 

But  if  it  be  intended  by  the  objection  to  say  simply,  that  the 
thoughts  of  the  author  are  often  difficult  to  be  apprehended — ^ 
that  he  makes  large  demands  not  only  upon  the  attention,  but 
upon  the  reflecting   and  thinking  powers,  of  his  readeis,  the 
fact  is  not,  and  need  not  be,  denied  ;  and  it  will  only  remain  to 
be   decided,  whether  the  instruction    offered,  as    the  reward, 
will  repay  us  for  the   expenditure  of  thought  required,  or  can 
be  obtained  for  less.     1  know  it  iscustomaiy  in  this  country, 
as  well  as   in  Great  Britain — and  that  too  among  men  from 
whom  different  language  might  be  expected — to   affect  either 
contempt  or  modesty,  in  regard  to  all  that  is  more  than  com- 
mon-place in  philosophy,  and  especially  "  Coleridge's   Meta- 
physics," as  "too  deep  for  them."     Now  it  may  not  be  eve- 
ry man^s  duty,  or  in   every  man's  power,  to  devote  to  such 
studies  the  time  and  thought  necessary  to  understand  the  deep 
things  of  philosophy.     But  for  one,   who  professes  to  be  a 
scholar,  and  to  cherish  a  manly  love  of  truth  for  the  truth's 
sake,  to  object  to  a  system  of  metaphysics  because  it  is  "too 
deep  for  him,"  must  be  either  a  disingenuous  insinuation,  that 
its  depths  are  not  worth  exploring — which  is  more  than  the 
objector  knows — or  a  confession,  that — with  all  his  professed 
love  of  truth  and  knowledge — he  prefers  to  "  sleep  after  din- 
ner."    The  misfortune  is,  that  men  have  been  cheated  into  a 
belief,  that  all  philosophy  and  metaphysics  worth  knowing  are 
contained  in  a  few  volumes,  which  can  be  understood  with  lit- 
tle expense  of  thought ;  and  that  they  may  very  well  spare 
themselves  the  vexation  of  trying  to  comprehend   the  depths 
of  "  Coleridge's  Metaphysics."     According  to  the  popular  no- 
tions of  the  day,  it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  understand  the 
philosophy  of  mind.     A  new  work  on  philosophy  is  as  easy  to 
read  as  the  last  new  novel ;  and  superficial,  would-be  scholars, 
who  have  a   very  sensible  horror  at  the  thought  of  studying 
Algebra,  or   the  doctrine    of  fluxions,   can  yet    go  through  a 
course  of  moral  sciences,  and  know  all  about  the  philosophy 
of  the  mind. 

Now  why  will  not  men  of  sense,  and  men  who  have  any 
just  pretensions  to  scholarship,  see   that  there  must  of  neces- 


1  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

sity  be  gross  sophistry  somewhere  in  any  system  of  metaphys- 
ics, which  pretends  to  give  us  an  adequate  and  scientific  self- 
knowledge — to  render  comprehensible   to  us  the  mysterious 
laws  of  our  own  inward  being,  w^ith  less  manly  and  persever- 
ing effort  of  thought  on  our  part,  than  is  confessedly  required 
to  comprehend  the   simplest  of  those  sciences,  all  of  which 
are  but  some  of  the  phsenomena,  from  which  the  laws  in  ques- 
tion are  to  be  inferred  ?     Why  will  they  not  see  and  acknowl- 
edge— what  one  would  suppose  a  moment's  reflection  would 
teach  them — that  to  attain  true    self-knowledge   by  reflection 
upon  the  objects  of  our  inward  consciousness — not  merely  to 
understand  the  motives  of  our  conduct  as  conscientious  chris- 
tians, but  to   know  ourselves  scientifically  as  philosophers — 
must,  of  necessity,  be  the  most  deep  and  diflicult  of  all  our 
attainments  in  knowledge  ?     I  trust  that  what  I  have  already 
said  will  be  sufficient  to  expose  the    absurdity  of  objections 
against   metaphysics   in   general,  and  do  something   towards 
showing,  that  we  are  in  actual  and   urgent  need  of  a  system 
somewhat  deeper  than  those,  the  contradictions  of  which  have 
not  w^ithout  reason  made  the  name  of  philosophy  a  terror  to 
the  friends  of  truth  and  of  religion.     "  False  metaphysics  can 
be  effectually  counteracted  by  true   metaphysics  alone  ;  and  if 
the   reasoning  be  clear,  solid,  and  pertinent,   the  truth  dedu- 
eed  caM  never  be  the  less  valuable  on  account  of  the  depth 
from  which  it   may  have  been   drawn."     It  is  a   fact,  too,  of 
great  importance  to  be  kept  in  mind,  in  relation  to  this  sub- 
ject, that  in  the  study  of  ourselves — in  attaining  a  knowledge 
of  our  own  being,    there  are  truths  of  vast  concernment,  and 
living  at  a  great  depth,  which  yet  no  man  can  draw  foi   ano- 
ther.    However  the  depth   may  have  been  fathomed,  and  the 
same  truth  brought  up  by  others,  for  a  light  and  a  joy  to  their 
own  minds,  it  must  still  remain,  and  be  sought  for  by  us,  each 
for  himself,  at  the  bottom  of  the  well. 

The  system  of  philosophy  here  taught  does  not  profess  to 
make  men  philosophers,  or — which  ought  to  mean  the  same 
hing — to  guide  them  to  the  knowledge  of  themselves,  without 
the   labour  both  of  attention  and  of  severe    thinking.     If  it 


PRELIMINARY    ES&AY.  H 

did  SO,  it  would  have,  like  the  more  popular  works  of  philoso- 
phy, far  less  affinity,  than  it  now  has,  with  the  mysteries  of 
religion,  aud  those  profound  truths  concerning  our  spiritual  he- 
ing  and  destiny,  which  are  revealed  in  the  "  things  hard  to  be 
understood"  of  St.  Paul  and  of  the  "  beloved  disciple."  For 
I  cannot  but  remind  my  readers  again,  that  the  author  does 
not  undertake  to  teach  us  the  philosophy  of  the  human  mind, 
with  the  exclusion  of  the  truths  and  influences  of  religion. 
He  would  not  undertake  to  philosophize  respecting  the  being 
and  character  of  man,  and  at  the  same  time  exclude  from  his 
view  the  very  principle  which  constitutes  his  proper  humani- 
ty :  he  would  not,  in  teaching  the  doctrine  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem, omit  to  mention  the  sun,  and  the  law  of  gravitation.  He 
professes  to  investigate  and  unfold  the  being  of  man  as  man,  in 
his  higher,  his  peculiar,  and  distinguishing  attributes.  These  it 
is,  which  are  "hard  to  be  understood,"  and  to  apprehend  which 
requires  the  exercise  of  deep  reflection  and  exhausting  thought. 
Nor  in  aiming  at  this  object  would  he  consider  it  very  philo- 
sophical to  reject  the  aid  and  instruction  of  eminent  writers 
on  the  subject  of  religion,  or  even  of  the  volume  of  revelation 
itself.  He  would  consider  St.  Augustine  as  none  the  less  a 
philosopher,  because  he  became  a  christian.  The  Apostles 
John  and  Paul  were,  in  the  view  of  this  system  of  philosophy, 
the  most  rational  of  all  writers,  and  the  New  Testament  the 
most  philosophical  of  all  books.  They  are  so,  because  they 
unfold  more  fully,  than  any  other,  the  true  and  essential  prin- 
ciples of  our  being  ;  because  they  give  us  a  clearer  and  deeper 
insight  into  those  constituent  laws  of  our  humanity,  which  as 
men,  and  therefore  as  philosophers,  we  are  most  concerned  to 
know.  Not  only  to  those,  who  seek  the  practical  self-knowl- 
edge of  the  humble,  spiritually  minded,  christian,  but  to  those 
also,  who  are  impelled  by  the  "  heaven  descended  yvuGi  tfsaurov" 
to  study  themselves  as  philosophers,  and  to  make  self-knowl- 
edge a  science,  the  truths  of  Scripture  are  a  hght  and  a  reve- 
lation. The  more  earnestly  we  reflect  upon  these  and  refer 
them,  whether  as  christians  or  as  philosophers,  to  the  move- 
ments of  our  inward   being — to  the   laws  which   reveal  them- 


Hi  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

selves  ill  our  own  consciousness,  the  more  fully  shall  we  un- 
derstand, not  only  the  language  of  Scripture,  but  all  that  most 
demands  and  excites  the  curiosity  of  the  genuine  philosopher 
in  the  mysterious  character  of  man.  It  is  by  this  guiding  light, 
that  we  can  but  search  into  and  apprehend  the  constitution  of 
that  ''  marvellous  microcosm,"  which,  the  more  it  has  been 
known,  has  awakened  more  deeply  the  wonder  and  admiration 
of  the  true  philosopher  in  every  age. 

Nor  would  the  author  of  this  work,  or  those  who  have  im- 
bibed the  spirit  of  his  system,  join  with  the  philosophers  of 
the  day  in  throwing  aside  and  treating  with  a  contempt,  as 
ignorant  as  it  is  arrogant,  the  treasures  of  ancient  wisdom. 
"  He,"  says  the  son  of  Sirach,  "  that  giveth  his  mind  to  the 
law  of  the  Most  High,  and  is  occupied  in  the  meditation  thereof, 
will  seek  out  the  wisdom  of  all  the  ancient."  In  the  estima- 
tion of  the  true  philosopher,  the  case  should  not  be  greatly 
altered  in  the  present  day  ;  and  now  that  two  thousand  years 
have  added  such  rich  and  manifold  abundance  to  those  ancient 
"  sayings  of  the  wise,"  he  will  still  approach  them  with  reve- 
rence, and  receive  their  instruction  with  gladness  of  heart. 
In  seeking  to  explore  and  unfold  those  deeper  and  more  sol- 
emn mysteries  of  our  being,  which  inspire  us  with  awe,  while 
they  baffle  our  comprehension,  he  will  especially  beware  of 
trusting  to  his  own  understanding,  or  of  contradicting,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  self-flattering  inventions  of  a  single  age,  the 
universal  faith  and  consciousness  of  the  human  race.  On  such 
subjects,  though  he  would  call  no  man  master,  yet  neither 
would  he  willingly  forego  the  aids  to  be  derived,  in  the  seaich 
after  truth,  from  those  great  oracles  of  human  wisdom — those 
giants  in  intellectual  power,  who  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion were  admired  and  venerated  by  the  great  and  good.  Much 
less  could  he  think  it  becoming,  or  consistent  with  his  duty,  to 
hazard  the  publication  of  his  own  thoughts  on  subjects  of  the 
deepest  concernment,  and  on  which  minds  of  greatest  depth 
and  power  had  been  occupied  in  former  ages,  while  confessed- 
ly ignorant  alike  of  their  doctrines,  and  of  the  arguments  by 
which  they  are  sustained. 


PRELIMINARY     ESSAY.  lul 

It  is  in  this  spirit,  that  the  author  of  the  work  here  oftered 
to  the  public  has  prepared  himself  to  deserve  the  candid  and 
even  confiding  attention  of  his  readers,  with  reference  to  the 
great  subjects  of  which  he  treats. 

And  although  the  claims  of  the  work  upon  our  attention,  as 
of  every  other  work,  must  depend  more  upon  its  inherent  and 
essential  character,  than  upon  the  worth  and  authority  of  its 
author,  it  may  yet  be  of  service  to  the  reader  to  know,  that 
he  is  no  hasty  or  unfurnished  adventurer  in  the  department  of 
authorship,  to  which  the  work  belongs.  The  discriminating 
reader  of  this  work  cannot  fail  to  discover  his  profound  knowl- 
edge of  the  philosophy  of  language,  the  principles  of  its  con- 
struction, and  the  laws  of  its  interpretation.  In  others  of  his 
works,  perhaps  more  fully  than  in  this,  there  is  evidence  of 
an  unrivalled  mastery  over  all  that  pertains  both  to  logic  and 
philology.  It  has  been  already  intimated,  that  he  is  no  con- 
temner of  the  great  writers  of  antiquity  and  of  their  wise  sen- 
tences; and  probably  few  English  scholars,  even  in  those  days 
when  there  were  giants  of  learning  in  Great  Britain,  had  minds 
more  richly  furnished  with  the  treasures  of  ancient  lore.  But 
especially  will  the  reader  of  his  works  observe  with  admira- 
tion the  profoundness  of  his  philosophical  attainments,  and  his 
thorough  and  intimate  knowledge,  not  only  of  the  works  and 
systems  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  and  of  the  celebrated  philoso- 
phers of  modern  times,  but  of  those  too  much  neglected  wri- 
tings of  the  Greek  and  Roman  Fathers,  and  of  the  great  lea- 
ders of  the  reformation,  which  more  particularly  qualify  him 
for  discussing  the  subjects  of  the  present  work.  If  these 
qualifications,  and — with  all  these,  and  above  all — a  disposi- 
tion professed  and  made  evident  seriously  to  value  them,  chief- 
ly as  they  enable  him  more  fully  and  clearly  to  apprehend  and 
illustrate  the  truths  of  the  christian  system, — if  these,  I  say, 
can  give  an  author  a  claim  to  a  serious  and  thoughtful  atten- 
tion, then  may  the  work  here  offered  urge  its  claims  upon  the 
reader.  My  own  regard  for  the  cause  of  truth,  for  the  inter- 
ests of  philosophy,  of  reason,  and  of  religion,  lead  me  to  hope 
that  they  may  not  be  uiged  in  vain. 


liV  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Of  his  general  claims  to  our  regard,  whether  from  exalted 
personal  and  moral  worth,  or  from  the  magnificence  of  his  intel- 
lectual powers,  and  the  vast  extent  and  variety  of  his  accumula- 
ted stores  of  knowledge,  I  shall  not  venture  to  speak.  If  it  be 
true  indeed,  that  a  really  great  mind  can  be  worthily  com- 
mended, only  by  those,  who  adequately  both  appreciate  and 
comprehend  its  greatness,  there  are  few,  who  should  under- 
take to  estimate,  and  set  forth  in  appropriate  terms,  the  intel- 
lectual power  and  moral  worth  of  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge. 
Neither  he,  nor  the  public,  would  be  benefited  by  such  com- 
mendations as  I  could  bestow.  The  few  among  us  who  have 
read  his  works  with  the  attention  which  they  deserve,  are  at 
no  loss  what  rank  to  assign  him  among  the  writers  of  the 
present  age ;  to  those,  who  have  not,  any  language,  which  I 
might  use,  would  appear  hyperbolical  and  extravagant.  The 
character  and  influence  of  his  principles  as  a  philosopher,  a 
moralist,  and  a  christian,  and  of  the  writings  by  which  he  is 
enforcing  them,  do  not  ultimately  depend  upon  the  estimation 
in  which  they  may  now  be  held  ;  and  to  posterity  he  may  safe- 
ly entrust  those  "productive  ideas"  and  "living  words" — 
those 

" truths  that  wake," 

"  To  perish  never," 

the  possession  of  which  will  be  for  their  benefit,  and  connect- 
ed with  which,  in  the  language  of  the  son  of  Sirach, — "  His 
own  memorial  shall  not  depart  away,  and  his  name  shall  live 
from  generation  to  generation." 

J.  M. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


In  the  bodies  of  several  species  of  Animals  tliere  are  found  certain  Parts 
of  which  neither  the  office,  the  functions,  nor  the  relations  could  be  ascer- 
tained by  the  Comparative  Anatomist,  till  he  had  become  acquainted  with 
the  state  of  the  Animal  before  birth.  Something  sufficiently  like  this  (for 
the  purpose  of  an  illustration,  at  least)  applies  to  the  Work  here  offered  to 
the  Public.  In  the  introductory  portion  there  occur  several  passages, 
which  the  Reader  will  be  puzzled  to  decypher,  ^vithout  some  information 
respecting  the  original  design  of  the  Volume,  and  the  Changes  it  has  un- 
dergone during  its  immature  and  embryonic  state.  On  this  account  only, 
I  think  myself  bound  to  make  it  kno\vn,  that  the  Work  was  proj)osed  and 
begun  as  a  mere  Selection  from  the  Writings  of  Archbishop  Leighton,  un- 
der the  usual  title  of  The  Beauties  of  Archbishop  Leighton,  with  a  few 
notes  and  a  biographical  preface  by  the  Selector.  Hence  the  term,  Editor^ 
subscribed  to  the  notes,  and  prefixed  alone  or  conjointly  to  the  Aphorisms, 
accordingly  as  the  Passage  was  written  entirely  by  myself,  or  only  modi- 
fied and  [avowedly)  interpolated.  I  continued  the  use  of  the  word  on  the 
plea  of  uniformity :  though  like  most  other  deviations  from  propriety  of 
language,  it  would  probably  have  been  a  wiser  choice  to  have  omitted  or 
exchanged  it.  The  various  Reflections,  however,  that  pressed  on  me 
while  I  was  considering  the  motives  for  selecting  this  or  that  passage  ;  the 
desire  of  enforcing,  and  as  it  were  integrating,  the  truths  contained  in  the 
Original  Author,  by  adding  those  which  the  words  suggested  or  recalled  to 
my  own  mind ;  the  conversation  with  men  of  eminence  in  the  Literaiy 
and  Religious  Circles,  occasioned  by  the  Objects  which  I  had  in  view ; 
and  lastly,  the  increasing  disproportion  of  the  Commcntaiy  to  the  Text, 
and  the  too  marked  difference  in  the  frame,  character,  and  color  of  the  two 
styles ;  soon  induced  me  to  recognize  and  adopt  a  revolution  in  my  plan 
and  object,  which  had  in  fact  actually  taken  place  without  my  intention, 
and  almost  miawares.  It  would  indeed  be  more  coiTect  to  say,  that  the 
present  Volume  owed  its  accidental  origin  to  the  intention  of  compiling 
one  of  a  difterent  description,  than  to  s])eak  of  it  as  the  same  Work.  It  is 
not  a  change  in  the  child,  but  a  changeling. 

Still,  however,  the  selections  from  Leighton,  which  will  be  found  in  the 
prudential  and  moral  Sections  of  this  Work,  and  which  I  could  retain 
consistently  with  its  ])resent  form  and  matter,  will  both   from  the  hitrinsic 


Ivi  ADVERTISEMENT. 

excellence  and  from  the  characteristic  beauty  of  the  passages,  suffice  to 
answer  two  prominent  purposes  of  the  original  plan  ;  that  of  placing  in  a 
clear  hght  the  principle,  which  pervades  all  Leighton's  Writings — his  sub- 
lime View,  I  mean,  of  Religion  and  Morality  as  the  means  of  reforming 
the  human  Soul  in  the  Divine  Image  [Idea] ;  and  that  of  exciting  an  in- 
terest in  the  Works,  and  an  aifectionate  reverence  for  the  name  and  me- 
mory, of  this  severely  tried  and  truly  primitive  Churchman. 

S.  T.  C. 


PREFACE. 


An  Author  has  three  points  to  settle :  to  what  sort  his  Work 
belongs,  for  what  Description  of  Readers  it  is  intended,  and 
the  specific  end  or  object,  which  it  is  to  answer.  There  is 
indeed  a  preliminary  Interrogative  respecting  the  end  which 
the  Writer  himself  has  in  view,  whether  the  Number  of  Pur- 
chasers, or  the  Benefit  of  the  Readers.  But  this  may  be 
safely  passed  by ;  since  where  the  book  itself  or  the  known 
principles  of  the  writer  do  not  supersede  the  question,  there 
will  seldom  be  sufiicient  strength  of  character  for  good  or^for 
evil,  to  afford  much  chance  of  its  being  either  distinctly  put  or 
fairly  answered. 

I  shall  proceed  therefore  to  state  as  briefly  as  possible  the 
intentions  of  the  present  volume  in  reference  to  the  three  first- 
mentioned,  viz.  What?  For   IVhom?  and  For  what? 

I.  What?  The  answer  is  contained  in  the  Title-page.  It 
belongs  to  the  class  of  didactic  Works.  Consequently,  those 
who  neither  wish  instruction  for  themselves,  nor  assistance  in 
instructing  others,  have  no  interest  in  its  contents.  Sis  Sus^ 
sis  Divus  :  Sum  Caltha,  et  non  tibi  spiro  ! 

II.  For  Whom  ?  Generally,  for  as  many  in  all  classes  as 
wish  for  aid  in  disciplining  their  minds  to  habits  of  reflec- 
tion— for  all  who,  desirous  of  building  up  a  manly  character 
in  the  light  of  distinct  consciousness,  are  content  to  study  the 
principles  of  moral  Architecture  on  the  several  grounds  of 
prudence,  morality  and  religion.  And  lastly,  for  all  who  feel 
an  interest  in  the  Position,  I  have  undertaken  to  defend — this, 
namely,  that  the  Christian  Faith  ( in  which  I  include  every 


H 


Iviii  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

article  of  belief  and  doctrine  professed  by  the  first  Reformers 
in  common)  is  the  Perfection  of  Human  Intelligence: 
an  interest  sufficiently  strong  to  ensure  a  patient  attention  to 
the  arguments  brought  in  its  support. 

But  if  I  am  to  mention  any  particular  class  or  description  of 
Readers,  that  were  prominent  in  my  thoughts  during  the  com- 
position of  the  volume,  my  Reply  must  be  :  that  it  was  espe- 
cially designed  for  the  studious  Young  at  the  close  of  their 
education  or  on  their  first  entrance  into  the  duties  of  manhood 
and  the  rights  of  self-government.  And  of  these,  again,  in 
thought  and  wish  I  destined  the  work  ( the  latter  and  larger 
portion,  at  least)  yet  more  particularly  to  Students  intended 
for  the  Ministry ;  first,  as  in  duty  bound,  to  the  members  of 
our  two  Universities:  secondly,  (but  only  in  respect  of  this 
mental  precedency  second)  to  all  alike  of  whatever  name, 
who  have  dedicated  their  future  lives  to  the  cultivation  of 
their  Race,  as  Pastors,  Preachers,  Missionaries,  or  instructors 
of  Youth. 

III.  For  What  ?  The  Worth  of  the  Author  is  estimated  by 
the  ends,  the  attainment  of  which  he  proposed  to  himself  by  the 
particular  work  :  while  the  Value  of  the  Work  depends  on  its 
fitness,  as  the  Means.  The  Objects  of  the  present  volume 
are  the  following,  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  comparative 
importance. 

1 .  To  direct  the  Reader's  attention  to  the  value  of  the  Sci- 
ence of  Words,  their  use  and  abuse  ( see  Note  4 )  and  the  in- 
calculable advantages  attached  to  the  habit  of  using  them  ap- 
propriately, and  with  a  distinct  knowledge  of  their  piimary, 
derivative,  and  metaphorical  senses.  And  in  furtherance  of 
this  Object  I  have  neglected  no  occasion  of  enforcing  the  max- 
im, that  to  expose  a  sophism  and  to  detect  the  equivocal  or 
double  meaning  of  a  word  is,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases, 
one  and  the  same  thing.     Home  Tooke  entitled  his  celebrated 


PREFACE.  hx 

work,  E-TTca  <7rT£^o£VTa,  Winged  Words :  or  Language,  not  only 
the  Vehicle  of  Thought  but  the  Wheels.  With  my  convic- 
tions and  views,  for  eirsa  I  should  substitute  Xoyoj,  i.  e.  Words  se- 
lect and  determinate^  and  for  -TTTS^oevTa,  ^uovrsg,  i.  e.  living  Words. 
The  Wheels  of  the  intellect  1  admit  them  to  be ;  but  such  as 
Ezekiel  beheld  in  "  the  visions  of  God"  as  he  sate  among  the 
Captives  by  the  river  of  Chebar.  "  Whithersoever  the  Spirit 
was  to  go,  the  Wheels  went,  and  thither  was  their  Spirit  to 
go  :  for  the  Spirit  of  the  living  creature  was  in  the  wheels  al- 
so.'' 

2.  To  establish  the  distinct  characters  of  Prudence,  Moral- 
ity, and  Religion  :  and  to  impress  the  conviction,  that  though 
the  second  requires  the  first,  and  the  third  contains  and  sup- 
posei  both  the  former ;  yet  still  Moral  Goodness  is  other  and 
more  than  prudence,  or  the  Principle  of  Expediency ;  and 
higher  than  Morality.  For  this  distinction  the  better  Schools 
even  of  Pagan  Philosophy  contended.     [See  pp.  14 — 15.) 

3.  To  substantiate  and  set  forth  at  large  the  momentous  dis- 
tinction between  Reason  and  Understanding.  Whatever  is 
atchievable  by  the  Understanding  for  the  purposes  of  world- 
ly interest,  private  or  public,  has  in  the  present  age  been  pur- 
sued with  an  activity  and  a  success  beyond  all  foriner  experi- 
ence, and  to  an  extent  which  equally  demands  my  admiration 
and  excites  my  wonder.  But  likewise  it  is,  and  long  has  been, 
my  conviction,  that  in  no  age  since  the  first  dawning  of  Sci- 
ence and  Philosophy  in  this  Island  have  the  Truths,  Interests, 
and  studies  that  especially  belong  to  the  Rkason,  contempla- 
tive or  practical,  sunk  into  such  utter  neglect,  not  to  say  con- 
tempt, as  during  the  last  century.  It  is  therefore  one  main 
Object  of  this  Volume  to  establish  the  position,  that  whoever 
transfers  to  the  Understanding  the  primacy  due  to  the  Reason, 
loses  the  one  and  spoils  the  other. 

4.  To  exhibit  a  full  and  consistent  Scheme  of  the  ChiisJian 


Ix  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Dispensation,  and  more  largely  of  all  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
the  Christian  Faith;  and  to  answer  all  the  Objections  to  the 
same,  that  do  not  originate  in  a  corrupt  Will  rather  than  er- 
ring Judgement ;  and  to  do  this  in  a  manner  inteUigible  for  all 
who,  possessing  the  ordinary  advantages  of  education,  do  in 
good  earnest  desire  to  form  their  religious  creed  in  the  light 
of  their  own  convictions,  and  to  have  a  reason  for  the  faith 
which  they  profess.  There  are  indeed  Mysteries,  in  evidence 
of  which  no  reasons  can  be  brought.  But  it  has  been  my  en- 
deavour to  show,  that  the  true  solution  of  this  problem  is,  that 
these  Mysteries  are  Reason,  Reason  in  its  highest  form  of 
Self-affirmation. 

Such  are  the  special  Objects  of  these  "Aids  to  Reflection." 
Concerning  the  general  character  of  the  work,  let  me  be  per- 
mitted to  add  the  few  following  sentences.  St.  Augustine,  in 
one  of  his  Sermons,  discoursing  on  a  high  point  of  Theology, 
tell  his  auditors — Sic  accipite,  ut  mereamini  intelligere.  Fides 
enim  debet  przecedere  intellectum,  ut  sit  intellectus  fidei  praem- 
ium*.  Now  without  a  certain  portion  of  gratuitous  and  (as it 
were )  experimentative  faith  in  the  Writer,  a  Reader  will  scarce- 
ly give  that  degree  of  continued  attention,  without  which  no 
didactic  Work  worth  reading  can  be  read  to  any  wise  or  pro- 
fitable purpose.  In  this  sense,  therefore,  and  to  this  extent 
every  Author,  who  is  competent  to  the  office  he  has  underta- 
ken, may  without  arrogance  repeat  St.  Augustine's  words  in 
his  own  right,  and  advance  a  similar  claim  on  similar  grounds. 
But  I  venture  no  farther  than  to  imitate  the  sentiment  at  a 
humble  distance,  by  avowing  my  belief  that  He,  who  seeks 
instruction  in  the  following  pages,  will  not  fail  to  find  enter- 
tainment likewise  ;  but  that  whoever  seeks  entertainment  only 
will  find  neither. 


^Translation.   So  receive  this,  that  you  may  deserve  to  understand  it. 
For  the  faith  ought  to  precede  the  Understanding,  so  that  the  Understand 
ing  may  be  the  reward  of  the  faith. 


PREFACE.  Ixi 

Reader  ! — You  have  been  bred  in  a  land  abounding  with 
men,  able  in  arts,  learning,  and  knowledges  manilbld,  this  man 
in  one,  this  in  another,  few  in  many,  none  in  all.  But  there 
is  one  art,  of  which  every  man  should  be  master,  the  art  of 
REFLECTION.  If  you  are  not  a'Jhinking  man,  to  what  purpose 
are  you  a  man  at  all  ?  In  like  manner,  there  is  one  knowl- 
edge, which  it  is  every  man's  interest  and  duty  to  acquire, 
namely,  self-knowledge  :  or  to  what  end  was  man  alone,  of 
all  animals,  indued  by  the  Creator  with  the  faculty  of  self-con- 
sciousness? Truly  said  the  Pagan  moralist,  E  ccelo  descen- 
di,   rvw^»  Ssaurov. 

But  you  are  likewise  born  in  a  christian  land  :  and  Reve- 
lation has  provided  for  you  new  subjects  for  reflection,  and 
new  treasures  of  knowledge,  never  to  be  unlocked  by  him 
who  remains  self-ignorant.  Self-knowledge  is  the  key  to  this 
casket ;  and  by  reflection  alone  can  it  be  obtained.  Reflect 
on  your  own  thoughts,  actions,  circumstances,  and — which  will 
be  of  especial  aid  to  you  in  forming  a  habit  of  reflection — ac- 
custom yourself  to  reflect  on  the  words  you  use,  hear,  or  read, 
their  birth,  derivation,  and  history.  For  if  words  are  not 
THINGS,  they  are  living  powers,  by  which  the  things  of  most 
importance  to  mankind  are  actuated,  combined,  and  humani- 
zed. Finally,  by  reflection  you  may  draw  from  the  fleeting 
facts  of  your  worldly  trade,  art,  or  profession,  a  science  perma- 
nent as  your  immortal  soul ;  and  make  even  these  subsidiary 
and  preparative  to  the  reception  of  spiritual  truth,  "  doing  as 
the  dyers  do,  who  having  first  dipt  their  silks  in  colours  of  less 
value,  then  give  them  the  last  tincture  of  crimson  in  grain." 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


m 


AIDS  TO  REPLECTIOIV. 


INTRODUCTORY  APHORISMS. 

i 


■m 


MARINUS. 

Omnis  divinae  atqiie  humana3  criiditionis  clementa  tria,  Nosse,  Velle, 
Posse:  quorum. pj-incipium  imum  Mens,  sive  Spiritus  ;  ciijus  Ocvlus  est 
Ratio  ;  cui  luvien  pra?bet  Deus.  Vita  di  G.  B.  Vico,  p.  50. 


m, 


AIDS 

TO 

REFLECTION. 


INTROPUCTORY  APHORISMS. 

APHORISM  I.  EDITOR. 

It  is  the  prerogative  of  Genius  to  produce  novel  impressions 
from  familiar  objects :  and  seldom  can  philosophic  genius  be 
more  usefully  employed  than  in  thus  rescuing  admitted  truths 
from  the  neglect  caused  by  the  very  circumstance  of  their 
universal  admission.  Extremes  meet.  Truths,  of  all  others 
the  most  awful  and  interesting,  are  too  often  considered  jis  so 
true,  that  they  lose  all  the  ppw^r  of  truth,  and  lie  bed-ridden 
in  the  dormitory  of  the  soul,  side  b^  side  with  the  naost  des- 
pised and  exploded  errors, 

APHORISM  II,  EDITOR. 

There  is  one  sure  way  of  giving  freshness  and  importance 
^>to  the  most  common-place  maxims — that  of  reflecting  on  them 
in  direct  reference  to  our  own   state  s^nd  conduct,  to   our  own 
past  and  future  being. 

APHORISM  III,  EDITOR, 

To  restore  a  common-place  truth  to  its  first  uncommon  lus- 
tre, you  need  only  translate  it  into  action.  But  to  do  this, 
you  m.ust  have  reflected  on  its  truth, 

APHORISM    IV,  LEIGHTON. 

*  It  is  the  advice  of  the  wise  man,  '  Dwell  at  home,'  or,  with 
'yourself;  and  though  there  are  very  few  that  do  this,  yet  it 
Ms  jiurprisin^  th^t  the  greatest  part  of  mjinkind  Ciinn<)t  hf- 


2  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

*  prevailed  upon,  at  least  to  visit  themselves  sometimes;  but, 
'  according  to  the  saying  of  the  wise  Solomon,  The  eyes  of 
'  the  fool  are  in  the  ends  of  the  earth.'' 

A  reflecting  mind,  says  an  ancient  writer,  is  the  spring  and 
source  of  every  good  thing.  (^'  Omnis  boni  principium  intel- 
lectus  cogitabundus.^ )  It  is  at  once  the  disgrace  and  the  mis- 
ery of  men,  that  they  live  without  fore-thought.  Suppose 
yourself  fronting  a  glass  mirror.  Now  what  the  Objects  be- 
hind you  are  to  their  images  at  the  same  apparent  distance  be- 
fore you,  such  is  Reflection  to  Fore-thought.  As  a  man  with- 
out Fore-thought  scarcely  deserves  the  name  of  a  man,  so 
Fore-thought  without  Reflection  is  but  a  metaphorical  phrase 
for  the  instinct  of  a  beast.  ed. 

APHORISM  V.  EDITOR, 

As  a  fruit-tree  is  more  valuable  than  any  one  of  its  fruits 
singly,  or  even  than  all  its  fruits  of  a  single  season,  so  the 
noblest  object  of  reflection  is  the  mind  itself,  by  which  we  re- 
flect. 

And  as  the  blossoms,  the  green,  and  the  ripe  fruit,  of  an 
©range-tree  are  more  beautiful  to  behold  when  on  the  tree  and 
seen  as  one  with  it,  than  the  same  growth  detached  and  seen 
successively,  after  their  importation  into  another  country  and 
diflerent  clime  ;  so  is  it  with  the  manifold  objects  of  reflection, 
when  they  are  considered  principally  in  reference  to  the  re- 
flective power,  and  as  part  and  parcel  of  the  same.  No  ob- 
ject, of  whatever  value  our  passions  may  represent  it,  but  be- 
comes foreign  to  us,  as  soon  as  it  is  altogether  unconnected 
with  our  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  life..  To  be  ours^  it 
must  be  referred  to  the  mind  either  as  motive,  or  conseq^uence, 
or  symptom.  / 

APHORISM  VI.  LErcHTON.j 

He  who  teaches  men  the  principles  and  precepts  of  spiritual 
wisdom,  before  their  minds  are  called  off  from  foreign  objects, 
and  turned  inwajjd  upon  themselves,  might  as  well  write  his 
instructions,  as  the  sybil  wrote  her  prophecies,  on  the  loose 
leaves  of  trees,  and  commit  them  to  the  mercy  of  Ihe  incon~> 
stant  winds. 


^' 


I 


INTRODUCTORY    APHORISMS.  O 

APHORISM   VII.  EDITOR. 

In  order  to  learn,  we  must  attend :  in  order  to  profit  by  what 
we  have  learnt,  we  must  think — i.  e.  reflect.  He  only  thinks 
who  reflects, 

APHORISM    VIII.  L.  AND  ED. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  difficulty,  and  requires  no  ordinary 
skill  and  address,  to  fix  the  attention  of  men  (especially  of 
young  men[l] )  on  the  world  within  them,  to  induce  them  to 
study  the  processes  and  superintend  the  works  which  they 
are  themselves  carrying  on  in  their  own  minds :  in  short,  to 
awaken  in  them  both  the  faculty  of  thought [2]  and  the  in- 
clination to  exercise  it.  For  alas  !  the  largest  part  of  mankind 
are  nowhere  greater  strangers  than  at  home. 

'  APHORISM  IX.  EDITOR. 

Life  is  the  one  universal  soul,  which  by  virtue  of  the  en- 
livening Breath,  and  the  informing  Word,  all  organized  bod- 
ies have  in  common,  each  after  its  kind[S].  This,  therefore, 
all  animals  possess,  and  man  as  an  animal.  But,  in  addition 
to  this,  God  transfused  into  man  a  higher  gift,  and  specially 
imbreathed  : — even  a  living  (that  is,  self-subsisting)  soul,  a 
soul  having  its  life  in  itself.  "  And  man  became  a  living  soul." 
He  did  not  merely  possess  it,  he  became  it.  It  was  his  proper 
heing^  his  truest  self  the  man  in  the  man.  None  then,  not 
one  of  human  kind,  so  poor  and  destitute,  but  there  is  provi- 
ded for  him,  even  in  his  present  state,  a  house  not  built  tvith 
hands.  Aye,  and  spite  of  the  philosophy  ( falsely  so  called ) 
which  mistakes  the  causes,  the  conditions,  and  the  occasions 
of  our  becoming  conscious  of  certain  truths  and  realities  for 
the  truths  and  realities  themselves — a  house  gloriously  fur- 
nished. Nothing  is  wanted  but  the  eye,  wiiich  is  the  light  of 
this  house,  the  light  which  is  the  eye  of  this  soul.  This  see- 
ing light,  this  enlightening  eye,  is  Reflection.  It  is  more,  in- 
deed, than  is  ordinarily  meant  by  that  word  ;  but  is  what  a 
Christian  ought  to  mean  by  it,  and  to  know  too,  whence  it 
first  came,  and  still  continues  to  come — of  what  light  even 
this  light  is  but  a   reflection.     This,  too,  is  thought  3  and  all 


4  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION- 

thought  is  but  unthinking  that  does  notfldw  out  of  this,  or  tend 
towards  it^ 

APHORISM  X.  EDITOR. 

Self-superintendence  I  that  any  thing  should  overlook  itself! 
Is  not  this  a  paradox,  and  hard  to  understand  ?  It  is,  indeed, 
difficult,  and  to  the  imbruted  sensualist  a  direct  contradiction  : 
and  yet  most  truly  does  the  poet  exclaim, 

•< UnleBS  aboi)e  himself  he  can 

Erect  bifjiselfj  hoW  hiekfi  h  thing  is  raan  ! 

AMOHISM  XL  KuiToi*, 

An  hour  oi  solitude  passed  in  sincere  and  earnest  prayer, 
^r  the  conflict  with,  and  conquest  over,  a  single  passion  or 
**  subtle  bosom  sin,"  will  teach  us  more  of  thought,  will  more 
feffectually  awaken  the  faculty^  and  form  the  habit^  of  reflec- 
tion, than  a  year's  study  in  the  schools  without  them* 

APHORISM    XIK  EDITOR; 

In  a  world,  whose  opinions  are  drawn  from  outside  shows^ 
many  things  may  be  paradoxical^  (that  is,  contrary  to  the 
fcOmmOn  notion )  and  nevertheless  true  :  nay,  because  they  are 
true.  How  should  it  he  Otherwise,  as  long  as  the  imagination 
of  the  Worldling  is  wholly  occupied  by  surfaces,  while  the 
Chi-istian^s  thoughts  are  fixed  on  the  substance,  that  which  is 
and  abides^  and  whichj  becausiB  it  is  the  substance [4],  the 
olitward  senses  cannot  recognize.  TertuUian  had  good  reason 
fof  his  assertion,  that  the  simplest  Christian  ( if  indeed  a  Chris- 
tian )  knows  more  than  the  most  accomplished  irreligious  phi- 
losopher. 

Comment* 

Let  it  not,  however,  be  forgotten,  that  the  powers  of  the 
Understanding  and  the  intellectual  graces  are  precious  gifts  of 
Dod ',  and  that  every  Christian,  according  to  the  opportunities 
vouchsafed  to  him,  is  bound  to  cultivate  the  one  and  to  ac- 
tjuire  the  other.  Indeed,  he  is  scarcely  d  Christian  who  wil- 
fully neglects  so  to  do.  What  says  the  apostle  f  Add  to  your 
faith  knoivledge^  ;^nd  to  knowledge   manly  rners:ih  {n^i^^Yiv)  fot' 


f 


INTRODUCTORYT    APHORISMS.  9 

this  is  the  proper  rendering,  and  not   virtue^  at  least  in    the 
present  and  ordinary  acceptation  oi  the  word[5]. 

APHORISM  XIII.  EDiTOK. 

Never  yet  did  there  exist  a  full  faith  in  the  Divine  Word 
(by  whoin  light^  as  well  as  immortality,  was  brought  into  the 
world,)  which  did  not  expand  the  intellect,  while  it  purified 
the  heart :  which  did  not  multiply  the  aims  and  objects  of  the 
understanding,  while  it  fixed  and  simplified  those  of  the  de- 
sires and  passions[6]. 

COMMENT. 

if  acquiesence  without  insight ;  if  warmth  without  light ;  if 
an  immunity  from  doubt,  given  and  guaranteed  by  a  resolute 
ignorance ;  if  the  habit  of  taking  for  granted  the  words  of  a 
catechism,  remembered  or  forgotten ;  if  a  mere  sensation  of 
positiveness  substituted — I  will  not  say  for  the  sense  of  cer- 
tainty, but — for  that  calm  assurance,  the  very  means  and 
conditions  of  which  it  supersedes  ;  if  a  belief  that  seeks  the 
darkness,  and  yet  strikes  no  root,  immoveable  as  the  limpet 
from  the  rock,  and,  lik6  the  limpet)  fixed  there  by  mere  force 
of  adhesion ; — if  these  suffice  to  make  men  Christians,  in 
what  sense  could  the  apostle  affirm  that  believers  receive,  not 
indeed  worldly  wisdom,  that  comes  to  nought,  but  the  wisdom 
of  God,  that  we  might  know  and  comprehend  the  things  that 
are  freely  given  to  us  of  God  ?  On  what  grounds  could  he 
denounce  the  sincerest  fervor  of  spirit  as  defective^  where  it 
does  not  likewise  bring  forth  fruits  in  the  understanding  ? 

APHORISM  XIV.  EDITOR. 

In  our  present  state,  it  is  little  less  tban  imposssible  that  the 
affections  should  be  kept  constant  to  an  object  which  gives  no 
employment  to  the  understanding,  and  yet  cannot  be  made 
manifest  to  the  senses.  The  exercise  of  the  reasoning  and 
reflecting  powers,  increasing  insight,  and  enlarging  views,  are 
requisite  to  keep  alive  the  substantial  faith  in  the  heart. 

APHORISM  XV.  EDITOR. 

in  the  stat6  of  perfection^    perhaps,  all  other  facUltirs    mav 


6  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

be  swallowed  up  in  love,  or  superseded  by  immediate  vision ; 
but  it  is  on  the  wings  of  the  cherubim,  i.  e.  ( according  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  doctors,)  the  intellectual 
powers  and  energies,  that  we  must  first  be  borne  up  to  the 
"pure  empyrean."  It  must  be  seraphs,  and  not  the  hearts  of 
imperfect  mortals,  that  can  burn  unfuelled  and  self-fed.  Give 
me  understanding  J  (is  the  prayer  of  the  Royal  Psalmist)  and 
I  shall  observe  thy  law  with  my  ivhole  heart.  Thy  law  is  ex- 
ceeding broad — that  is,  comprehensive,  pregnant,  containing 
far  more  than  the  apparent  import  of  the  words  on  a  first  pe- 
rusal.    It  is  my  meditation  all  the  day. 

COMMENT. 

It  is  worthy  of  especial  observation,  that  the  Scriptures  are 
distinguished  from  all  other  writings  pretending  to  inspiration, 
by  the  strong  and  frequent  recommendations  of  knowledge, 
and  a  spirit  of  inquiry.  Without  reflection,  it  is  evident  that 
neither  the  one  can  be  acquired  nor  the  other  exercised. 

APHORISM  XVI.  EDITOR. 

The  word  rational  has  been  strangely  abused  of  late  times. 
This  must  not,  however,  disincline  us  to  the  weighty  conside- 
ration, that  thoughtfulness,  and  a  desire  to  rest  all  our  con- 
victions on  grounds  of  right  reason,  are  inseparable  from  the 
character  of  a  Christian. 

APHORISM  XVII.  EDITOR. 

A  reflecting  mind  is  not  a  flower  that  grows  wild,  or  comes 
up  of  its  own  accord.  The  difficulty  is  indeed  greater  than 
many,  who  mistake  quick  recollection  for  thought,  are  dispo- 
sed to  admit ;  but  how  much  less  than  it  would  be,  had  we 
not  been  born  and  bred  in  a  Christian  and  Protestant  land,  the 
fewest  of  us  are  sufficiently  aware.  Truly  may  we,  and 
thankfully  ought  we  to  exclaim  with  the  Psalmist :  The  entrance 
of  thy  words  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  understanding  even  to  the 

simple. 

APHORISM  XVIII.  EDITOR. 

Examine  the  journals  of  zealous  missionaries,  I  will  not 
say    among   the  Hottentots  or  Esquimaux,   but    in  the  high- 


INTRODUCTORY    APHORISMS.  7 

ly  civilized,  though  fearfully  uncultivated,  inhabitants  of  an- 
cient India.  How  often,  and  how  feelingly,  do  they  de- 
scribe the  difficulty  of  rendering  the  simplest  chain  of  thought 
intelligible  to  the  ordinary  natives,  the  rapid  exhaustion  of 
their  whole  power  of  attention,  and  with  what  distressful  ef- 
fort it  is  exerted  while  it  lasts !  Yet  it  is  among  these  that 
the  hideous  practices  of  self-torture  chiefly  prevail.  0  if  fol- 
ly were  no  easier  than  wisdom,  it  being  often  so  very  much 
more  grievous,  how  certainly  might  these  unhappy  slaves  of 
superstition  be  converted  to  Christianity !  But,  alas !  to 
swing  by  hooks  passed  through  the  back,  or  to  walk  in  shoes 
with  nails  of  iron  pointed  upwards  through  the  soles — all  this 
is  so  much  less  difficult,  demands  so  much  less  exertion  of  the 
will  than  to  reflect,  and  by  reflection  to  gain  knowledge  and 
tranquility  ! 

COMMENT. 

It  is  not  true,  that  ignorant  persons  have  no  notion  of  the 
advantages  of  truth  and  knowledge.  They  confess,  they 
see  and  bear  witness  to  these  advantages  in  the  conduct,  the 
immunities,  and  the  superior  powers  of  the  possessors.  Were 
they  attainable  by  pilgrimages  the  most  toilsome,  or  penances 
the  most  painful,  we  should  assuredly  have  as  many  pilgrims 
and  self-tormentors  in  the  service  of  true  religion,  as  now  ex- 
ist under  the  tyranny  of  papal  or  Brahman  superstition. 

^  APHORISM  XIX.  EDITOR. 

In  countries  enlightened  by  the  gospel,  however,  the  most 
formidable  and  (it  is  to  be  feared)  the  most  frequent  impedi- 
ment to  men's  turning  the  mind  inward  upon  themselves 
is  that  they  arc  afraid  of  what  they  shall  find  there.  There 
is  an  aching  hollowness  in  the  bosom,  a  dark  cold  speck  at  the 
heart,  an  obscure  and  boding  sense  of  a  somewhat,  that  must 
be  kept  out  of  sight  of  the  conscience  ;  some  secret  lodger, 
whom  they  can  neither  resolve  to  eject  or  retain [7]. 

COMMENT. 

Few  are  so  obdurate,  few  have  sufficient  strength  of  char- 
acter, to  be   able  to  draw   forth  an  evil   tendency  or   immoral 


ft  *        AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

practice  into  distinct  consciousness,  without  bringing  it  in  the 
same  moment  before  an  awaking  conscience.  But  for  this 
very  reason  it  becomes  -a  duty  of  conscience  to  form  the  min^ 
to  a  habit  of  distinct  consciousness.  An  unreflecting  Chris- 
tian walks  in  twilight  among  snares  and  pitfalls !  He  entreats 
the  heavenly  Father  not  to  lead  him  into  temptation,  and  yet 
places  himself  on  the  very  edge  of  it,  because  he  will  not  kin- 
dle the  torch  which  his  Father  had  given  into  his  hands,  as  a 
means  of  prevention,  and  lest  he  should  pray  too  late, 

APHORISM  XX,  EDITOR, 

Among  the  various  undertakings  of  nien,  can  there  be  men- 
tioned one  more  important,  can  there  be  conceived  one  more 
sublime,  than  an  intention  to  form  the  human  mind  anew  after 
the  DIVINE  IMAGE  ?  The  very  intention,  if  it  be  sincere, 
is   a  ray  of  its  dawning. 

The  requisites  for  the  execution  of  this  high  intent  may  be 
comprised  under  three  heads ;  the  prudential,  the  pioa'al,  and 
the  spiritual : 

APHORISM  XXI.  EDITOR, 

First,  PRUDENCE — religious  prudence,  I  mean  ;  a  prudence 
in  the  service  of  Religion.  What  this  is,  will  be  bestexplaip- 
ed  by  its  effects  and  operations.  It  consists  then  in  the  prer 
vention  or  abatement  of  hinderances  and  distractions ;  and 
consequently  in  avoiding,  or  removing,  all  such  circumstances 
as,  by  diverting  the  attention  of  the  workman,  retard  the  pro- 
gress and  hazard  the  safety  of  the  work.  It  is  likewise  ( we 
deny  not)  a  part  of  this  unworldly  prudence,  to  place  our- 
selves as  much  and  as  often  as  it  is  in  our  power  so  to  do,  in 
circumstances  directly  favourable  to  our  great  design ;  and  to 
avail  ourselves  of  all  the  positive  hel^s  and  furtherances  which 
these  circumstances  afford.  But  neither  dare  we,  as  Chris- 
tians, forget  whose  and  under  what  dominion  the  things  are, 
quae  nos  circumstant ,  i.  e..  that  sta7icl  ctround  us,  We  are  to 
remember,  that  it  is  the  World  that  constitutes  our  outward 
circumstances ;  that  in  the  form  of  the  World,  which  is  ever- 
ijiore  at  variance  vdth  the  Divine  Form  (or  idea)  they  ar^ 


INTRODUCTORY    APHORISMS.  9 

cast  and  moulded  ;  and  that  of  the  means  and  measures  which 
prudence  requires  in  the  forming  anew  of  the  Divine  Image 
in  the  soul,  the  far  greater  numher  suppose  the  World  at  en- 
mity with  our  design.  We  are  to  avoid  its  snares,  to  repel  its 
attacks,  to  suspect  its  aids  and  succours,  and  even  when  com- 
pelled to  receive  them  as  allies  within  our  trenches,  yet  to 
commit  the  outworks  alone  to  their  charge,  and  to  keep  them 
at  a  jealons  distance  from  the  citadel.  The  powers  of  the 
world  are  often  christened,  but  seldom  christianized.  They 
are  but  proselytes  of  the  outer  gate :  or,  like  the  Saxons  of 
old,  enter  the  land  as  auxiliaries,  and  remain  in  it  as  conquer- 
ors and  lords. 

APHORISM  XXII.  EDITOR, 

The  rules  of  prudence  in  general,  like  the  laws  of  the  stone 
tables,  are  for  the  most  part  prohibitive.  Thou  shalt  not  is 
their  characteristic  formula  :  and  it  is  an  especial  part  of  Chris- 
tian prudence  that  it  should  be  so.  Nor  woidd  it  be  diflicult 
to  bring  under  this  head,  all  the  social  obligations  that  arise 
out  of  the  lelations  of  the  present  life,  which  the  sensual  un- 
derstanding ( TO  (ppov'/ifxa  T7]s  2a|xog,  Romans  viii.  6.)  is  of  itself 
able  to  discover,  and  the  performance  of  which,  under  favour- 
able worldly  circumstances,  the  merest  worldly  self-interest, 
without  love  or  faith,  is  sufficient  to  enforce  ;  but  which 
Christian  prudence  enlivens  by  a  higher  principle,  and  renders 
symbolic  and  sacramental.  (Ephesiansv.  32.) 

COMMENT, 

This  then  comprising  the  prudentials  of  religion,  comes 
first  under  consideration.  Next  follow  the  moral  Requisites. 
If  in  the  j^rs^  we  have  the  shrine  and  frame-work  for  that  Di- 
vine Imao;e,  into  which  the  Wordlv-human  is  to  be  transform- 
ed  ;  in  the  second,  we  are  to  bring  out  the  Portrait  itself — 
the  distinct  features  of  its  countenance,  as  a  sojourner  among 
men  ;  its  benign  aspect  turned  towards  its  fellow-pilgrims,  the 
extended  arm,  and  the  hand  that  blesseth  and  healeth. 

APHORISM  XXIIL  EDITOR. 

The  outward  service  (9py]o'x£ja[8] )  of  ancient  religion,  the 


10  AIDS    TO    REFluECTION. 

rites,  ceremonies  and  ceremonial  vestments  of  the  old  law, 
had  morality  for  their  substance.  They  were  the  letter ,  of 
which  morality  was  the  spirit ;  the  enigma,  of  which  morality 
was  the  meaning.  But  morality  itself  is  the  service  and  cere- 
monial (cultus  exterior,  &^(ixsiu)oi  the  Christian  religion.  The 
scheme  of  grace  and  truth  that  became[9)  through  Jesus 
Christ,  the  faith  that  looks[\0]  down  into  the  perfect  law  of 
liberty,  has  "  light  for  its  garment ;"  its  very  "  robe  is  right- 
eousness." 

COMMENT. 

Herein  the  Apostle  places  the  pre-eminency,  the  peculiar 
and  distinguishing  excellence,  of  the  Christian  religion.  The 
ritual  is  of  the  same  kind,  (ojulo^o'iov)  though  not  of  the  same 
order,  with  the  religion  itself — not  arbitrary  or  conventional, 
as  types  and  hieroglyphics  are  in  relation  to  the  things  express- 
ed by  them;  but  inseparable,  consubstantiated  (as  it  were,) 
and  partaking  therefore  of  the  same  life,  permanence,  and  in- 
trinsic worth  with  its  spirit  and  principle. 

APHORISM  XXIV.  EDITOR. 

Morality  is  the  body,  of  which  the  faith  in  Christ  is  the 
soul — so  far  indeed  its  earthly  body,  as  it  is  adapted  to  its  state 
of  warfare  on  earth,  and  the  appointed  form  and  instrument  of 
its  communion  with  the  present  world  ;  yet  not  "  terrestrial," 
nor  of  the  world,  but  a  celestial  body,  and  capable  of  being 
transfigured  from  glory  to  glory,  in  accordance  with  the  vary- 
ing circumstances  and  outward  relations  of  its  moving  and  in- 
forming spirit. 

APHORISM  XXV.  EDITOR, 

Woe  to  the  man,  who  will  believe  neither  power,  freedom, 
nor  morality  ;  because  he  no  where  finds  either  entire,  or  un- 
mixed with  sin,  thraldom  and  infirmity.  In  the  natural  and 
intellectual  lealms,  we  distinguish  what  we  cannot  separate  ; 
and  in  the  moral  world,  we  must  distinguish  in  order  to  sepa- 
rate. Yea,  in  the  clear  distinction  of  good  from  evil  the  pro- 
cess of  separation  commences. 


INTRODUCTORY    APHORISMS.  11 

COMMENT. 

It  was  customary  with  religious  men  in  former  times,  to 
make  a  rule  of  taking  every  morning  some  text  or  aphorism[l  1  ] 
for  their  occasional  meditation  during  the  day,  and  thus  to  fill 
up  the  intervals  of  their  attention  to  husiness.  I  do  not  point 
it  out  for  imitation,  as  knowing  too  well,  how  apt  these  self- 
imposed  rules  are  to  degenerate  into  superstition  or  hollow- 
ness  :  or  I  would  have  recommended  the  following  as  the  first 
exercise. 

APHORISM  XXVI.  EDITOR. 

It  is  a  dull  and  obtuse  mind,  that  must  divide  in  order  to 
distinguisli ;  but  it  is  a  still  worse,  that  distinguishes  in  order 
to  divide.  In  the  former,  we  may  contemplate  the  source  of 
superstition  and[12]  idolatry  ;  in  the  latter,  of  schism,  heresy 
[13],  and  a  seditious  and  sectarian  spirit  [14]. 

APHORISM  XXVII.  EDITOR. 

Exclusive  of  the  abstract  sciences,  the  largest  and  worthiest 
portion  of  our  knowledge  consists  of  ajihorisms :  and  the 
greatest  and  best  of  men  is  but  an  aphorism. 

APHORISM  XXVIII.  EDITOR. 

On  the  prudential  influence  which  the  fear  or  foresight  of 
the  consequences  of  his  actions,  in  respect  of  his  own  loss  or 
gain,  may  exert  on  a  newly  converted  Believer. 

Precautionary  Remark. — We  meddle  not  with  the  dis- 
pute respecting  conversion^  whether,  and  in  what  sense,  neces- 
sary in  all  Christians.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose,  that  a 
very  large  number  of  men,  even  in  Christian  countries  need,  to 
be  converted,  and  that  not  a  few,  we  trust,  have  been.  The 
t^net  becomes  fanatical  and  dangerous,  only  when  rare  and  ex- 
traordinary exceptions  are  made  to  be  the  general  rule  ; — w  hen 
what  was  vouchsafed  to  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  by  espe- 
cial grace,  and  for  an  especial  purpose,  viz.  a  conversion [15] 
begun  and  completed  in  the  same  moment,  is  demanded  or  ex- 
pected of  all  men,  as  a  necessary  sign  and  pledge  of  their 
election.     Late  observations  have  shown,  that    under  many 


12  Ains    TO    REFLECTION. 

circumstances  the  magnetic  needle,  even  after  the  disturbing 
influence  has  been  removed,  will  keep  wavering,  and  require 
many  days  before  it  points  aright,  and  remains  steady  to  the 
pole.  So  is  it  ordinarily  with  the  soul,  after  it  has  begun  to 
free  itself  from  the  disturbing  forces  of  the  flesh  and  the  world 
and  to  convert [16]  itself  towards  God. 

APHORISM  XXIX.  EDITOR. 

Awakened  by  the  cock-crow,  ( a  sermon,  a  calamity,  a  sick 
bed,  or  a  providential  escape )  the  Christian  pilgrim  sets  out  in 
the  morning  twilight,  while  yet  the  truth  ( the  vo/xog  <rsX£»og  b  Trig 
sXsv&s^ias)  is  below  the  horizon.  Certain  necessary  conse- 
quences of  his  past  life  and  his  present  undertaking  will  be 
seen  by  the  refraction  of  its  light :  more  will  be  apprehended 
and  conjectured.  The  phantasms,  that  had  predominated  du- 
ring the  hours  of  darkness,  are  still  busy.  No  longer  present 
as  Forms,  they  will  yet  exist  as  moulding  and  formative  Mo- 
tions in  the  Pilgrim's  soul.  The  Dream  of  the  past  night  will 
transfer  its  shapes  to  the  objects  in  the  distance,  while  the  ob- 
jects give  outwardness  and  reality  to  the  shapings  of  the 
Dream.  The  fears  inspired  by  long  habits  of  selfishness  and 
self-seeking  cunning,  though  now  purifying  into  that  fear  which 
is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and  ordained  to  be  our  guide  and 
safeguard,  till  the  sun  of  love,  the  perfect  law  of  liberty,  is 
fully  arisen — these  fears  will  set  the  fancy  at  work,  and  haply, 
for  a  time  transform  the  mists  of  dim  and  imperfect  knowledge 
into  determinate  superstitions.  But  in  either  case,  whether 
seen  clearly  or  dimly,  whether  beheld  or  only  imagined,  the 
consequences  contemplated  in  their  bearings  on  the  individual's 
inherent[17]  desire  of  happiness  and  dread  of  pain  become 
motives  :  and  ( unless  all  distinction  in  the  words  be  done  away 
with,  and  either  prudence  or  virtue  be  reduced  to  a  superflu- 
ous synonyme,  a  redundancy  in  all  the  languages  of  the  civili- 
zed world,)  these  motives,  and  the  acts  and  forbearances  di- 
rectly proceeding  from  them,  fall  under  the  head  of  prudence, 
as  belonging  to  one  or  other  of  its  three  very  distinct  species. 
It  may  be  a  prudence,  that  stands  in  opposition  to  a  higher  mo- 
ral life,  and  tends  to  preclude  it,  and   to  prevent  the  soul  from 


INTRODUCTORY    APHORISMS.  IS 

ever  arriving  at  the  hatred  of  sin  for  its  own  exceeding  sinful- 
ness {Rom.  vii.  13J  :  and  this  is  an  evil  prudence.  Or  it 
may  be  a  neutral  prudence,  not  incompatible  with  spiritual 
growth  :  and  to  this  we  may,  with  especial  propriety,  apply  the 
words  of  our  lord,  "  What  is  not  against  us  is  for  us."  It  is 
therefore  an  innocent,  and  (being  such)  a  proper  and  com- 
mendable  PRUDENCE. 

Or  it  may  lead  and  be  subservient  to  a  higher  principle  than 
itself.  The  mind  and  conscience  of  the  individual  may  be  re- 
conciled to  it,  in  the  foreknowledge  of  the  higher  principle, 
and  w^ith  a  yearning  towards  it  that  implies  a  foretaste  of  fu- 
ture freedom.  The  enfeebled  convalescent  is  reconciled  to  his 
crutches,  and  thankfully  makes  use  of  them,  not  only  because 
they  are  necessary  for  his  immediate  support,  but  likew^ise,  be- 
cause they  are  the  means  and  conditions  of  exercise  ;  and  by 
exercise  of  establishing,  gradatim  paulatim^  that  strength, 
flexibility,  and  almost  spontaneous  obedience  of  the  muscles, 
which  the  idea  and  cheering  presentiment  of  health  hold  out 
to  him.  He  finds  their  value  in  their  present  necessity,  and 
their  worth  as  they  are  the  instruments  of  finally  superseding 
it.  This  is  a  faithful,  a  wise  prudence,  having  indeed,  its 
birth-place  in  the  world,  and  the  wisdom  of  this  world  for  its 
Father;  but  naturalized  in  a  better  land,  and  having  the  Wis- 
dom from  above  for  its  Sponsor  and  Spiritual  Parent.  To  steal 
a  dropt  feather  from  the  spicy  nest  of  the  Phoenix,  (the  fond 
humour,  I  mean,  of  the  mystic  divines  and  allegorizers  of  Ho- 
ly Writ )  it  is  the  son  of  Terah  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  ^^  lio 
gives  a  tithe  of  all  to  the  King  of  Righteousness,  without  fa- 
ther, without  mother,  without  descent,  (Nof^og  au-Tovojuioj, )  and 
receives  a  blessing  on  the  remainder. 

Lastly,  there  is  a  prudence  that  co-exists  with  morality,  as 
morality  co-exists  with  the  spiritual  life  :  a  prudence  that  is 
the  organ  of  both,  as  the  understanding  is  to  the  reason  and 
the  will,  or  as  the  lungs  are  to  the  heart  and  brain.  This  is  a 
HOLY  prudence,  the  steward  faithful  and  discreet  ( oixovojxog  '^■lios 
xai  9povifxog,  Luke  xii.  42),  the  'eldest  servant'  in  the  family  of 
faith,  born  in  the  house,  and  '  made  the  ruler  over  his  lord's 
household.' 


14  AIDS    TO    REFLBOTION. 

Let  not  then,  I  entreat  you,  my  purpose  be  misunderstood  ; 
as  if,  in  distinguishing  virtue  from  prudence,  I  wished  to  di- 
vide the  one  from  the  other.  True  morality  is  hostile  to  that 
prudence  only,  which  is  preclusive  of  true  morality.  The 
teacher  who  subordinates  prudence  to  virtue,  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  dispense  with  it ;  and  he  who  teaches  the  proper  con- 
nexion of  the  one  with  the  other,  does  not  depreciate  the  low- 
er in  any  sense  ;  while  by  making  it  a  link  of  the  same  chain 
with  the  higher,  and  receiving  the  same  influence,  he  raises  it. 

In  Greek,  Logos  ( Anglice,  Word),  means  likewise  the  Un- 
derstanding. If  the  same  idiom  existed  in  our  language,  only 
with  the  substitution  of  the  practical  for  the  intellectual,  I 
would  say:  the  word[18]  ('i.  e.  Practical  Rectitude,)  has 
Virtue  ( or  Morality )  for  its  Consonants  and  Prudence  for  the 
Vowels.  Though  the  former  can  scarcely  be  pronounced  with- 
out the  latter,  yet  we  ought  to  acquaint  ourselves  with  their 
true  nature  and  force.  But  this  we  can  do  only  by  a  distinct 
knowledge  of  the  latter,  that  is,  what  they  are  of  themselves, 
and  sounded  separately  from  the  consonants.  In  like  manner, 
to  understand  aright  what  morality  is,  we  must  first  learn  what 
prudence  is,  and  what  acts  and  obligations  are  prudential ; 
and  having  removed  these  to  a  class  of  their  own,  we  shall 
find  it  comparatively  easy  to  determine  what  acts  and  duties 
belong  to  morality. 

APHORISM  XXX.  EDITOR. 

What  the  duties  of  morality  are,  the  apostle  instructs  the 
believer  in  full,  reducing  them  under  two  heads :  negative,  to 
keep  himself  pure  from  the  world  ;  and  positive,  beneficence 
with  sympathy  and  loving-kindness,  i.  e.  love  of  his  fellow-men 
(his  kind)  as  himself. 

APHORISM  XXXI.  EDITOR. 

Last   and   highest,  come  the   spiritual^  comprising  all  the 

truths,  acts  and   duties  that  have  an  especial  reference  to  the 

Timeless,  the  Permanent,  the  Eternal ;  to  the  sincere  love  of 

the  True,  as  truth,  of  the  Good,  as  good  :  and  of  God  as  both 

in  one.     It  comprehends   the  whole    ascent  from  uprightness 


INTRODUCTORY    APHORISMS.  15 

( morality,  virtue,  inward  rectitude  J  to  godlikcncss^  \>ith  all 
the  acts,  exercises,  and  disciplines  of  mind,  will  and  affection, 
that  are  requisite  or  conducive  to  the  great  design  of  our  re- 
demption from  the  form  of  the  evil  one,  and  of  our  second 
creation  or  birth  in  the  divine  Image  [19]. 

APHORISM  XXXII.  EDITOR. 

It  may  be  an  additional  aid  to  reflection,  to  distinguish  the 
three  kinds  severally,  according  to  the  faculty  to  which  each 
corresponds,  the  faculty  or  part  of  our  human  nature  which 
is  more  particularly  its  organ.  Thus :  the  prudential  corres- 
ponds to  the  sense  and  the  understanding  ;  the  moral  to  the 
heart  and  the  conscience  ;  the  spiritual  to  the  will  and  the 
reason,  i.  e.  to  the  finite  will  reduced  to  harmony  with,  and  in 
subordination  to,  the  reason,  as  a  ray  from  that  true  light 
which  is  both  reason  and  will,  universal  reason,  and  will  abso- 
lute. 

I  have  now,  I  trust,  effected  the  two  purposes  of  this  intro- 
ductory chapter,  viz : 

1.  That  of  explaining  the  true  nature  and  evincing  the  ne- 
cessity of  reflection  in  the  constitution  of  a  Christian  charac- 
ter. 

2.  That  of  assigning  my  reasons  why,  having  proposed  to 
select  from  Archbishop    Leighton's  Works   the  most  striking 

^irudential,  moral,  and  spiritual  maxims,  I  have  separated  the 
prudential  from  the  two  following,  and  interpolated  the  ex- 
tracts with  mementos  of  my  own. 


PRUDENTIAL  APHORISMS. 


APHORISM     I.  L.  AND  ED. 

You  will  not  be  offended,  nor  think  I  intend  to  insult  you, 
if  once  and  again,  with  great  earnestness  and  sincerity,  I  wish 
you  and  myself  a  sound  and  serious  temper  of  mind ;  for,  if 
we  may  represent  things  as  they  really  are,  very  few  men  are 
possessed  of  so  valuable  a  blessing.  The  far  greater  part  of 
them  are  intoxicated  either  with  the  pleasures  or  the  caies  of 
this  world  ;  they  stagger  about  with  a  tottering  and  unstable 
pace,  and,  as  Solomon  expresses  it.  The  labour  of  the  foolish 
wearieth  every  one  of  them ;  because  he  knoiveth  not  how  to 
go  to  the  city  :  Eccl.  x.  15  : — the  heavenly  city,  and  the  vision 
of  peace,  which  very  few  have  a  just  notion  of,  or  are  at 
pains  to  seek  after.  Nay,  they  know  not  what  it  is  they  are 
seeking.  They  flutter  from  one  object  to  another,  and  live  at 
hazard.  They  have  no  certain  harbour  in  view,  nor  direct 
their  course  by  any  fixed  star.  But  to  him  that  knoweth  not 
the  port  to  which  he  is  bound,  no  wind  can  be  favourable ; 
neither  can  he  who  has  not  yet  determined  at  what  mark  he 
is  to  shoot,  direct  his  arrow  aright. 

I  assert,  then,  that  there  is  a  proper  object  to  aim  at ;  and 
if  this  object  be  meant  by  the  term  happiness,  (though  I  think 
that  not  the  most  appropriate  term  for  a  state,  the  perfection 
of  which  consists  in  the  exclusion  of  all  hap  {i.  e.  chance,) 
and  should  greatly  prefer  the  Socratic  Eupraxy^  as  expressing 
the  union  of  well-being  and  well, )  I  assert  that  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  human  happiness.  This  is  indeed  imphed  in  the 
belief  of  an  infmitely  wise  Author  of  our  being. 

APHORISM    II.  LEIGHTON. 

The  whole  human  race  must  have  been  created  in  misery, 
and  exposed  to  unavoidable   torments,   from  which  thev  could 


18  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

never  have  been  relieved,  had  they  been  formed  not  only  ca- 
pable of  a  good,  quite  unattainable  and  altogether  without 
their  reach,  but  also  with  strong  and  restless  desires  towards 
that  impossible  good.  Now,  as  this  is  by  no  means  to  be  ad- 
mitted, there  must  necessarily  be  some  full,  permanent,  and, 
satisfying  good,  that  may  be  attained  by  man,  and  in  the  pos- 
session of  which  he  must  be  truly  happy. 

APHORISM    III.  LEIGHTON. 

What  this  is,  the  Bible  alone  shows  clearly  and  certainly, 
and  points  out  the  way  that  leads  to  the  attainment  of  it.  This 
is  that  which  prevailed  with  St.  Augustine  to  study  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  engaged  his  affection  to  them.  'In  Cicero,  and 
'  Plato,  and  other  such  writers,'  says  he,  '  I  meet  with  many 
'  things  acutely  said,  and  things  that  excite  a  certain  warmth 
'  of  emotion,  but  in  none  of  them  do  I  find  these  words.  Come 
*  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour^  and  are  heavy  laden^  and  I  will 
'  give  you  rest  [  20 ] . 

APHORISM    IV.  LEIGHTON. 

It  is  the  wisdom  of  mankind  to  know  God,  and  their  indis- 
pensable duty  to  worship  Him.  Without  this,  men  of  the 
brightest  parts  and  greatest  learning  seem  to  be  born  with  ex- 
cellent talents  only  to  make  themselves  miserable  ;  and  accor- 
ding to  the  expression  of  the  wisest  of  kings,  He  that  increa- 
seth  knowledge  increaseth  sorrow^  Eccl.  i.  18.  We  must, 
therefore,  first  of  all,  consider  this  as  a  sure  and  settled  point, 
that  religion  is  the  sole  foundation  of  human  peace  and  felici- 
ty. This,  even  the  profane  scoffers  at  religion  are,  in  some 
sort,  obliged  to  own,  though  much  against  their  will,  even 
while  they  are  pointing  their  wit  against  it ;  for  nothing  is 
more  commonly  to  be  heard  from  them,  than  that  the  whole 
doctrine  of  religion  was  invented  by  some  wise  men,  to  en- 
courage the  practice  of  justice  and  virtue  through  the  world. 
Surely  then,  religion,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  it,  must 
be  a  matter  of  the  highest  value,  since  it  is  found  necessary 
to  secure  advantages  of  so  very  great  importance.  But,  in 
the  meantime,  how  unhappy  is  the  case  of  integrity  and  vir- 


PRUDENTIAL    APHORISMS.  19 

tue,  if  what  they  want  to  support  them  is  merely  fictitious, 
and  they  cannot  keep  their  ground  but  by  means  of  a  mon- 
strous forgery  !  But  far  be  it  from  us  to  entertain  such  an  ab- 
surdity !  For  the  first  rule  of  righteousness  cannot  be  other- 
wise than  right,  nor  is  there  any  thing  more  nearly  allied  or 
more  friendly  to  virtue,  than  truth. 

APHORISM     V.  LEIGHTON. 

And  it   is,  indeed,  very  plain,  that  if  it  were  possible   en- 
tirely to  dissolve  all    the  bonds   and  ties  of  religion,  yet,  that 
it  should  be   so,  w^ould  certainly  be  the  interest  of  none  but 
the  worst  and  most  abandoned  part  of  mankind.     All  the  good 
and  wise,  if  the  matter  was  freely  left  to  their  choice,  w^ould 
rather  have  the  world  governed  by  the  Supreme   and  Most 
Perfect   Being,  mankind  subjected  to  His  just  and  righteous 
laws,  and  all  the  affairs  of  men  superintended  by  His  watch- 
ful  providence,  than  that  it  should  be  otherwise.     Nor    do 
they  believe   the  doctrines  of  religion  with   aversion   or  any 
sort  of  reluctancy,  but  embrace  them  with  pleasure,  and  are 
excessively  glad  to   find  them  true.     So  that,  if  it  was  possi- 
ble,  to  abolish  them  entirely,    and  any  person,  out   of  mere 
good- will  to  them,  should  attempt  to  do  it,   they  would  look 
upon  the   favour  as   highly  prejudicial   to  their  interest,    and 
think  his   good- will  more   hurtful  than   the   keenest  hatred. 
Nor  would  any  one,  in  his  wits,  choose  to  live  in  the  w^orld,  at 
large,   and  without  any    sort  of  government,    more  than    he 
would  think   it   eligible  to  be  put  on  board  a    ship  without  a 
helm  or  pilot,  and,  in  this  condition,  to  be  tossed  amidst  rocks 
and  quicksands.     On  the  other  hand,  can  any  thing  give  grea- 
ter consolation,  or  more  substantial  joy  [21],  than  to  be  firmly 
persuaded,  not  only  that  there  is  an  infinitely  good  and  wise 
Being,  but  also  that  this  Being  preserves   and  continually  gov- 
erns the   universe  w^hich    Himself  has  framed,  and   holds  the 
reins  of  all   things  in  His  powerful  hand ;  that  He  is  our  fa- 
ther, that  we  and  all   our  interests  are  His    constant  concern  ; 
and  that,  after  we  have  sojourned  a  short  while  here   below, 
we  shall   be  again  taken  into  His  immediate  presen(  e?     Or 


20  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

can  this  wretched  life  be  attended  with  any  sort  of  satisfaction, 
if  it  is  divested  of  this  divine  faith,  and  bereaved  of  such  a 
blessed  hope  ? 

APHORISM  VI.  EDITOR. 

Felicity,  in  its  proper  sense,  is  but  another  word  for  fortu- 
nateness,  or  happiness ;  and  I  can  see  no  advantage  in  the  im- 
proper use  of  words,  when  proper  terms  are  to  be  found,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  much  mischief.  For,  by  familiarizing  the 
mind  to  equivocal  expressions,  that  is,  such  as  may  be  taken 
in  two  or  more  different  meanings,  we  introduce  confusion  of 
thought,  and  furnish  the  sophist  with  his  best  and  handiest 
tools.  For  the  juggle  of  sophistry  consists,  for  the  greater 
part,  in  using  a  word  in  one  sense  in  the  premise,  and  in  anoth- 
er sense  in  the  conclusion.  We  should  accustom  ourselves  to 
think  and  reason^  in  precise  and  steadfast  terms ;  even  when 
custom,  or  the  deficiency,  or  the  corruption  of  the  language 
will  not  permit  the  same  strictness  in  speaking.  The  mathe- 
matician finds  this  so  necessary  to  the  truths  which  he  is  seek- 
ing, that  his  science  begins  with,  and  is  founded  on,  the  defini- 
tion of  his  terms.  The  botanist,  the  chemist,  the  anatomist, 
&c.,  feel  and  submit  to  this  necessity  at  ail  costs,  even  at  the 
risk  of  exposing  their  several  pursuits  to  the  ridicule  of  the 
many,  by  technical  terms,  hard  to  be  remembered,  and  alike 
quarrelsome  to  the  ear  and  the  tongue.  In  the  business  of 
moral  and  religious  reflection,  in  the  acquisition  of  clear  and 
distinct  conceptions  of  our  duties,  and  of  the  relations  in  which 
we  stand  to  God,  our  neighbour  and  ourselves,  no  such  difficul- 
ties occur.  At  the  utmost  we  have  only  to  rescue  words,  al- 
ready existing  and  familiar,  from  the  false  or  vague  meanings 
imposed  on  them  by  carelessness,  or  by  the  clipping  and  de- 
basing misusage  of  the  market.  And  surely  happiness,  duty, 
faith,  truth,  and  final  blessedness,  are  matters  of  deeper  and 
dearer  interest  for  all  men,  than  circles  to  the  geometrician,  or 
the  characters  of  plants  to  the  botanist,  or  the  affinities  and 
combining  principle  of  the  elements  of  bodies  to  the  chemist, 
or  even  than  the  mechanism  (fearful  and  wonderful  though  it 
be ! )  of  the  perishable  Tabernacle  of  the  Soul  can  be  to  the 


PRUDENTIAL  APHORISMS.  21 

anatomist.  Among  the  aids  to  reflection,  place  the  following 
maxim  prominent  :  let  distinctness  in  expression  advance  side 
by  side  with  distinction  in  thought.  For  one  useless  subtlety 
in  our  elder  divines  and  moralists,  I  will  produce  ten  sophisms 
of  eqivocation  in  the  writings  of  our  modern  preceptors  :  and 
for  one  error  resulting  from  excess  in  distinguishing  the  indif- 
ferent, I  would  show  ten  mischievous  delusions  from  the  habit 
of  confounding  the  diverse. 

APHORISM  VII.  EDITOR. 

Whether  you  are  reflecting  for  yourself,  or  reasoning  with 
another,  make  it  a  rule  to  ask  yourself  the  precise  meaning  of 
the  word,  on  which  the  point  in  question  appears  to  turn  ; 
and  if  it  may  be  (i.  e.  by  writers  of  authority  has  been)  used  in 
several  senses,  then  ask  which  of  these  the  word  is  at  present 
intended  to  convey.  By  this  mean,  and  scarcely  without  ii^ 
you  will  at  length  acquire  a  facility  in  detecting  the  quid  pro 
quo.  And  believe  me,  in  so  doing  you  will  enable  yourself  to 
disarm  and  expose  four-fifths  of  the  main  arguments  of  our 
most  renowned  irreligious  philosophers,  ancient  and  modern. 
For  the  quid  pro  quo  is  at  once  the  rock  and  quarry,  on  and 
w  ith  w^hich  the  strong-holds  of  disbelief,  materialism,  and  ( more 
pernicious  still)  epicurean  morality,  are  l)uilt. 

APHORISM    VIII.  LEIGHTON. 

If  we  seriously  consider  what  religion  is,  we  shall  find  the 
saying  of  the  wise  king  Solomon  to  be  unexceptionably  true  : 
Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are 
peace. 

Doth  religion  require  any  thing  of  us  more  than  that  we 
live  soberly.,  righteously.,  and  godly  in  this  jnesent  ivorld? 
Now  wdiat,  I  pray,  can  be  more  pleasant  or  peaceable  than 
these  ?  Temperance  is  always  at  leisure,  luxury  always  in  a 
hurry  :  the  latter  weakens  the  body  and  pollutes  the  soul,  the 
former  is  the  sanctity,  purity,  and  sound  state  of  both.  It  is 
one  of  Epicurus'  fixed  maxims,  'That  life  can  never  be  plea- 
sant without  virtue.'  Vices  bcize  upon  men  with  the  violence 
and  rage    of  furies ;  but  the   Christ  iun    virtues  replcni.'^h  the 


22  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

breast  which  they  inhabit,  with  a  heavenly  peace  and  abund- 
ant joy,  and  thereby  render  it  like  that  of  an  angel.  The 
slaves  of  pleasure  and  carnal  affections,  have  within  them, 
even  now,  an  earnest  of  future  torments  ;  so  that,  in  this  pre^ 
sent  life,  we  may  truly  apply  to  them  that  expression  in  the 
Revelations,  They  that  worship  the  beast  have  no  rest  day  nor 
night.  'There  is  perpetual  peace  with  the  humble,'  says  the 
most  devout  A  Kempis ;  'but  the  proud  and  the  covetous  are 
'never  at  rest.' 

COMMENT. 

In  the  works  of  moralists,  both  Christian  and  Pagan,  it  is 
often  asserted  (indeed  there  are  few  common-places  of  more 
frequent  recurrence )  that  the  happiness  even  of  this  life  con- 
sists solely,  or  principally,  in  virtue ;  that  virtue  is  the  only 
happiness  of  this  life  ;  that  virtue  is  the  truest  pleasure^  &c. 

I  doubt  not  that  the  meaning,  which  the  writers  intended  to 
convey  by  these  and  the  like  expressions,  was  true  and  wise. 
But  I  deem  it  safer  to  say,  nor  do  I  doubt  that  in  diverting 
men  from  sensual  and  dishonest  courses  it  will  often  be  expe- 
dient to  say,  that  in  all  the  outward  relations  of  this  life,  in 
all  our  outward  conduct  and  actions,  both  in  what  we  should 
do,  and  in  what  we  should  abstain  from,  the  dictates  of  virtue 
are  the  very  same  with  those  of  self-interest ;  that  though  the 
incitements  of  virtue  do  not  proceed  from  the  same  point, 
yet  they  tend  to  the  same  point  with  the  impulses  of  a  reflec- 
ting and  consistent  selfishness  ;  that  the  outward  object  of 
virtue  being  the  greatest  producible  sum  of  happiness  of  all 
men,  it  must  needs  include  the  object  of  an  intelligent  self- 
love,  which  is  the  greatest  possible  happiness  of  one  individu- 
al ;  for  what  is  true  of  all,  must  be  true  of  each.  Hence,  you 
cannot  become  better,  (i.  e.  more  virtuous),  but  you  will  be- 
come happier  :  and  you  cannot  become  worse,  (i.  e.  more  vi- 
cious), without  an  increase  of  misery  (or  at  the  best  a  propor- 
tional loss  of  enjoyment)  as  the  consequence.  If  the  thing 
were  not  inconsistent  with  our  well-being,  and  known  to  be  so, 
it  would  not  have  been  classed  as  a  vice.  Thus  what  in  an 
enfeebled  and   disorded  mind  is  called  prudence,  is  the  voice 


PRUDENTIAL  APHORISMS.  23 

of  nature  in  a  healthful  state  ;  as  is  proved  by  the  known  fact, 
that  the  prudential  duties,  {i.  e.  those  actions  which  are  com- 
manded by  virtue  because  they  are  prescribed  by  prudence), 
the  animals  fulfil  by  natural  instinct. 

The  pleasure  that  accompanies  or  depends  on  a  healthy  and 
vigorous  body  will  be  the  consequence  and  reward  of  a  tem- 
perate life  and  habits  of  active  industry,  whether  this  pleasure 
were  or  were  not  the  chief  or  only  determining  motive  there- 
to. Virtue  may,  possibly,  add  to  the  pleasure  a  good  of  ano- 
ther kind,  a  higher  good,  perhaps,  than  the  worldly  mind  is  ca- 
pable of  understanding,  a  spiritual  complacency,  of  which  in 
your  present  sensualized  state  you  can  form  no  idea.  It  may 
ddd^  I  say,  but  it  cannot  detract  from  it.  Thus  the  reflected 
rays  of  the  sun  that  give  light,  distinction,  and  endless  multi- 
formity to  the  mind,  give  at  the  same  time  the  pleasurable 
sensation  of  icarmth  to  the  body.  If  then  the  time  has  not 
yet  come  for  any  thing  higher,  act  on  the  maxim  of  seeking 
the  most  pleasure  with  the  least  pain :  and,  if  only  you  do 
not  seek  where  you  yourself  knoio  it  will  not  be  found,  this 
very  pleasure  and  this  freedom  from  the  disquietude  of  pain, 
existing  in  conjunction  with  their  immediate  causes  and  ne- 
cessary conditions,  and  with  the  other  almost  certain  con- 
sequences of  of  these  causes,  (for  instance,  the  advantages  of 
good  character,  the  respect  and  sympathy  of  your  neighbours, 
sense  of  increasing  power  and  influence,  &c.)  may  produce  in 
you  a  state  of  being  directly  and  indirectly  favourable  to  the 
germination  and  up-spring  of  a  nobler  seed.  They  may  pre- 
pare and  predispose  you  to  the  sense  and  acknowledgement  of 
a  principle,  differing  not  merely  in  degree  but  in  kind  from  the 
faculties  and  instincts  of  the  higher  and  more  intelligent  spe- 
cies of  animals,  (the  ant,  the  beaver,  the  elephant),  and  which 
principle  is  therefore  your  proper  humanity.  And  on  this  ac- 
count and  with  this  view  alone  may  certain  modes  of  pleasure- 
able  or  agreeable  sensation,  without  confusion  of  terms,  be  hon- 
oured with  the  title  of  refined,  intellectual,  ennobling  pleasures. 
For  Pleasure  ( and  happiness  in  its  proper  sense  is  but  the 
continuity  and  sum-total  of  the  pleasure  which  is  allotted  or 


24  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

happens  to  a  man,  and  hence  by  the  Greeks  called  eurux'a,  i.  e. 
good-hap,  or  more  religiously  s\j6aiiiovia,  i.  e.  favourable  provi- 
dence ) — Pleasure  I  say,  consists  in  the  harmony  between  the 
specific  excitability  of  a  living  creature,  and  the  exciting  cau- 
ses correspondent  thereto.  Considered,  therefore,  exclusively 
in  and  for  itself,  the  only  question  is,  quantum  ?  not,  quale  ? 
Hoiv  much  on  the  ivhole  9  the  contrary,  i.  e.  the  painful  and 
disagreeable,  having  been  subtracted.  The  quality  is  a  mat- 
ter of  taste :  et  de  gicstihus  non  est  disputandum.  No  man 
can  judge  for  another. 

This,  I  repeat,  appears  to  me  a  safer  language  than  the  sen- 
tences quoted  above  (that  virtue  alone  is  happiness ;  that  hap- 
piness consists  in  virtue,  &c. )  sayings  which  I  find  it  hard  to 
reconcile  with  other  positions  of  still  more  frequent  occurrence 
in  the  same  divines,  or  with  the  declaration  of  St.  Paul :  "  If 
in  this  life,  only,  we  have  hope,  we  are  of  all  men  most  misera- 
ble." Such  language  the  soundest  moralists  were  obliged  to 
employ,  before  grace  and  truth  were  brought  into  the  world 
by  Jesus  Christ.  And  such  language  may,  I  doubt  not,  even 
now  be  profitably  addressed  both  to  individuals  and  to  classes 
of  men  ;  though  in  what  pi^oportion  it  should  be  dwelt  on,  and 
to  what  extent  it  is  likely  to  be  efficacious,  a  leview  of  the 
different  epochs  memorable  for  the  turning  of  many  from  their 
evil  ways,  and  a  review  of  the  means  by  which  this  reforma- 
tion of  life  has  been  principally  effected,  renders  me  scrupu- 
lous in  deciding. 

At  all  events,  I  should  rely  far  more  confidently  on  the  con- 
verse, viz.  that  to  be  vicious  is  to  be  miserable.  Few  men 
are  so  utterly  reprobate,  so  imbruted  by  their  vices,  as  not  to 
have  some  lucid,  or  at  least  quiet  and  sober  intervals ;  and  in 
such  a  moment,  dum  descBviunt  ircB,  few  can  stand  up  unshaken 
against  the  appeal  to  their  own  experience — what  have  been 
the  wages  of  sin  ?  what  has  the  devil  done  for  you  ?  What 
sort  of  master  have  you  found  him  ?  Then  let  us  in  befitting 
detail  J  and  by  a  series  of  questions  that  ask  no  loud,  and  are 
secure  against  any  false^  answer,  urge  home  the  proof  of  the 
position,  that  to  be  vicious  is  to  be  wretched:  adding  the  fear- 


PRUDENTIAL    APHORISMS.  25 

ful  corollary,  that  if  even  in  the  body,  wliich  as  long  as  life  is 
in  it  can  never  be  wholly  bereaved  of  pleasurable  sensations, 
vice  is  found  to  be  misery,  what  must  it  not  be  in  the  world  to 
come  ?  There,  where  even  the  crime  is  no  longer  possible, 
much  less  the  gratifications  that  once  attended  it — where  no- 
thing of  vice  remains  but  its  guilt  and  its  misery — vice  must 
be  misery  itself,  all  and  utter  misery. — So  best,  if  I  err  not, 
may  the  motives  of  prudence  be  held  forth,  and  the  impulses 
of  self-love  be  awakened,  in  alliance  with  truth,  and  free  from 
the  danger  of  confounding  things  (the  Laws  of  Duty,  I  mean, 
and  the  Maxims  of  Interest)  which  it  deeply  concerns  us  to 
keep  distinct,  inasmuch  as  this  distinction  and  the  faith  therein 
are  essential  to  our  moral  nature  [23] ,  and  this  again  the  ground- 
work and  pre-condition  of  the  spiritual  state,  in  which  the 
Humanity  strives  after  Godliness  and,  in  the  name  and  power, 
and  through  the  prevenient  and  assisting  grace  of  the  Media- 
tor, will  not  strive  in  vain. 

APHOJUSM  IX.  EDITOR. 

The  advantages  of  a  life  passed  in  conformity  with  the  pre- 
cepts of  virtue  and  religion,  and  in  how  many  and  various  re- 
spects they  recommend  virtue  and  religion,  even  on  grounds 
of  prudence,  form  a  delightful  subject  of  meditation,  and  a 
source  of  refreshing  thought  to  good  and  pious  men.  Nor  is 
it  strange  if^  transported  w^ith  the  view,  such  persons  should 
sometimes  discourse  on  the  charm  of  forms  and  colours  to  men 
whose  eyes  are  not  yet  couched;  or  that  they  occasionally 
seem  to  invert  the  relations  of  cause  and  effect,  and  forget  that 
there  are  acts  and  determinations  of  the  will  and  aftections, 
the  consequences  of  which  may  be  plainly  foreseen,  and  yet 
cannot  be  made  our  proper  and  primary  motwes  for  such  acts 
and  determinations,  without  destroying  or  entirely  altering  the 
distinct  nature  and  character  of  the  latter.  Sophron  is  well 
informed  that  wealth  and  extensive  patronage  will  be  the  con- 
sequence of  his  obtaining  the  love  and  esteem  of  Constantia. 
But  if  the  foreknowledge  of  this  consequence  were,  and  were 
found  out  to  be,  Sophron's  main  and  determining  motive  for 
seeking  this  love  and  esteem  ;  and  if  Constantia  were  a  woman 

4 


26  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

that  merited,  or  was  capable  of  feeling,  either  one  or  the  other, 
would  not  Sophron  find  ( and  deservedly  too )  aversion  and  con- 
tempt in  their  stead  ?  Wherein,  if  not  in  this,  differs  the 
friendship  of  worldlings  from  true  friendship  ?  Without  kind 
offices  and  useful  services,  wherever  the  power  and  opportu- 
nity occur,  love  would  be  a  hollow  pretence.  Yet  what  noble 
mind  would  not  be  offended,  if  he  were  thought  to  value  the 
love  for  the  sake  of  the  services,  and  not  rather  the  services 
for  the  sake  of  the  love  ? 

Dissertations  on  the  profitableness  of  righteousness,  that 
"her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,"  we  possess  many  and 
eloquent,  and  in  our  most  popular  works.  Many  such  passa- 
ges, and  of  great  beauty,  occur  in  the  volumes  of  Archbishop 
Leighton ;  but  they  are  not  particularly  characteristic  of  his 
mind  and  genius.  For  these  reasons,  therefore,  in  addition  to 
the  scruples  avowed  in  the  preceding  pages,  I  have  confined 
my  selection  to  a  few  specimens ;  and  shall  now  conclude  what 
I  have  thought  expedient  to  observe  in  my  own  person,  by 
guarding  against  any  possible  misinterpretation  of  my  senti- 
ments by  the  two  following  aphorisms  : 

APHORISM  X.  '      EDITOR. 

Though  prudence  in  itself  is  neither  virtue  nor  spiritual  ho- 
liness, yet  without  prudence,  or  in  opposition  to  it,  neither  vir- 
tue nor  holiness  can  exist. 

APHORISM  XL  EDITOR. 

Art  thou  under  the  tyranny  of  sin  ?  a  slave  to  vicious  habits  ? 
at  enmity  with  God,  and  a  skulking  fugitive  from  thy  own  con- 
science ?  O,  how  idle  the  dispute,  whether  the  listening  to  the 
dictates  of  prudence  from  prudential  and  self-interested  motives 
be  virtue  or  merit,  when  the  not  listening  is  guilt,  misery,  mad- 
ness, and  despair  !  The  best,  the  most  Christianlike  pity  thou 
canst  show,  is  to  take  pity  on  thy  own  soul.  The  best  and  most 
acceptable  service  thou  canst  render,  is  to  do  justice  and  show 
mercy  to  thyself. 

APHORISM     XII.  LEIGHTON. 

What,  you  will  say,  have  I  beasts  within  me  .^     Yes,  you 


i 


PRUDENTIAL    APHORISMS.  27 

have  beasts,  and  a  vast  number  of  them.     And,  that  you  may  not 
think  I  intend  to  insult  you,  is  anger  an  inconsiderable  beast, 
when  it  barks  in  your  heart  ?     What  is  deceit,  when  it  lies  hid 
in  a  cunning  mind  ;  is  it  not  a  fox  ?     Is  not  the  man  who  is  fu- 
riously bent  upon  calumny,  a  scorpion  ?      Is  not  the  person 
who  is  eagerly  set  on  resentment  and  revenge,  a  most  venom- 
ous viper  ?     What  do  you  say  of  a  covetous  man  ;  is  he  not  a 
ravenous  wolf.'*     And  is  not  the  luxurious  man,  as  the  prophet 
expresses  it,  a  neighing  horse  ?     Nay,  there  is  no  wild  beast 
but  is  found  within  us.     And  do  you  consider  yourself  as  lord 
and  prince  of  the  wild  beasts,  because  you  command  those  that 
are  without,  though  you  never  think  of  subduing  or  setting 
bounds  to  those  that  are  within  you  ?     What  advantage  have 
you  by  your  reason,  which  enables  you  to  overcome  lions,  if, 
after  all,  you,  yourself,  are  overcome  by  anger  ?     To  what  pur- 
pose do  you  rule  over  the  birds,  and  catch  them  with  gins,  if 
you,  yourself,  with  the  inconstancy  of  a  bird,  or  hurried  hither 
and  thither,  and  sometimes  flying  high,  are  ensnared  by  pride, 
sometimes  brought  down  and  caught  by  pleasure  ^  But  as  it  is 
shameful  for  him  who  rules  over  nations,  to  be  a  slave  at  home, 
and  for  the  man  who  sits  at  the  helm  of  the  state,  to  be  mean- 
ly subjected  to  the  beck  of  a  contemptible  harlot,  or  even  of 
an  imperious  wife  ;  will  it  not  be,  in  like  manner,  disgraceful 
for  you  who  exercise  dominion  over  the  beasts  that  are  with- 
out you,  to  be  subject  to  a  great  many,  and  those  of  the  worst 
sort,  that  roar  and  domineer  in  your  distempered  mind  ? 

APHORISM    XIII.  LEIGHTON. 

There  is  a  settled  friendship,  nay,  a  near  relation  and  simili- 
tude between  God  and  good  men  ;  he  is  even  their  father  ;  but, 
in  their  education,  he  inures  them  to  hardships.  Wlien,  there- 
fore, says  Seneca,  you  see  them  struggling  with  difficulties, 
sweating,  and  employed  in  up-hill  w^ork ;  while  the  wicked, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  in  high  spirits,  and  swim  in  pleasures ; 
consider,  that  we  are  pleased  with  modesty  in  our  children, 
and  forwardness  in  our  slaves :  the  former  we  keep  under  by 
severe  discipline,  while  wc  encourage  impudence  in  the  hitter. 


28  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Be  persuaded  that  God  takes  the  same  method.  He  does  not 
pamper  the  good  man  with  delicious  fare,  but  tries  him ;  he 
accustoms  him  to  hardships,  and,  (which  is  a  wonderful  express- 
ion in  a  heathen)  prepares  him  for  himself. 

APHORISM   XIV.  LEiCxHTOiv. 

If  what  we  are  told  concerning  that  glorious  city,  obtain 
credit  with  us,  we  shall  cheerfully  travel  towards  it,  nor  shall 
we  be  at  all  deterred  by  the  difficulties  that  may  be  in  the  way. 
But,  however,  as  it  is  true,  and  more  suitable  to  the  weakness 
of  our  minds,  which  are  rather  apt  to  be  affected  with  things 
present  and  near,  than  such  as  are  at  a  great  distance,  we  ought 
not  to  pass  over  in  silence,  that  the  way  to  the  happiness  re- 
served in  heaven,  which  leads  through  this  earth,  is  not  only 
agreeable  because   of  the  blessed  prospect  it  opens,  and  the 
glorious  end  to  v/hich  it  conducts,  but  also  for  its  own  sake, 
and  on  account  of  the  innate  pleasure  to  be  found  in  it,  far 
preferable  to  any  other  way  of  life  that  can  be  made  choice  of, 
or,  indeed,  imagined.     Nay,  that  we  may  not,  by  low  express- 
ions, derogate  from  a  matter  so  grand  and  so  conspicuous,  that 
holiness  and  true  religion  which  leads  directly  to  the  highest 
felicity,  is  itself  the  only  happiness,  as  far  as  it  can  be  enjoyed 
on  this  earth.     Whatever  naturally  tends  to  the  attainment  of 
any  other  advantage,  participates,  in  some  measure,  of  the  na- 
ture of  that  advantage.     Now,  the  way  to  perfect  felicity,  if 
any  thing  can  be  so,  is  a  means  that,  in  a  very  great  measure, 
participates  of  the  nature  of  its  end  ;  nay,  it  is  the  beginning  of 
that  happiness,  it  is  also  to  be  considered  a  part  of  it,  and  dif- 
fers from  it,  in  its  completest  state,  not  so  much  in  kind,  as  in 
degree. 

APHORISM    XV.  LEIGHTON. 

'We  are  always  resolving  to  live,  and  yet  never  set  about 
'life  in  good  earnest [24].'  Archimedes  was  not  singular  in 
his  fate  ;  but  a  great  part  of  mankind  die  unexpectedly,  while 
they  are  poring  upon  the  figures  they  have  described  in  the 
sand.  0  wretched  mortals !  who  having  condemned  them- 
selves, as  it  were,  to  the  mines,  seem  to  make  it  their  chief 


PRUDENTIAL    APHORISMS.  29 

study  to  prevent  their  ever  regaining  their  liberty.  Hence, 
new  employments  are  assumed  in  the  place  of  old  ones ;  and, 
as  the  Roman  philosopher  truly  expresses  it,  '  one  hope  suc- 
'  ceeds  another,  one  instance  of  ambition  makes  way  for  ano- 
'  ther ;  and  we  never  desire  an  end  of  our  misery,  but  on- 
My  that  it  may  change  its  outward  form[25]-^  When  we 
cease  to  be  candidates,  and  to  fatigue  ourselves  in  soliciting 
interest,  we  begin  to  give  our  votes  and  interest  to  those  who 
solicit  us  in  their  turn.  When  we  are  wearied  of  the  trouble 
of  prosecuting  crimes  at  the  bar,  we  commence  judges  our- 
selves ;  and  he  who  is  grown  old  in  the  management  of  other 
men's  affairs  for  money,  is  at  last  employed  in  improving  his 
own  wealth.  At  the  age  of  fifty,  says  one,  I  will  retire,  and 
take  my  ease ;  or  the  sixtieth  year  of  my  life  shall  entirely 
disengage  me  from  public  offices  and  business.  Fool !  art  thou 
not  ashamed  to  reserve  to  thyself  the  last  remains  and  dregs 
of  life  ?  Who  will  stand  surety  that  thou  shalt  live  so  long  ? 
And  what  immense  folly  is  it,  so  far  to  forget  mortality,  as  to 
think  of  beginning  to  live  at  that  period  of  years,  to  which  a 
few  only  attain ! 


REFLECTIONS  RESPECTING  MORALITY. 


If  Prudence,  though  practically  inseparable  from  Morality, 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Moral  Principle ;  still  less 
may  Sensibility,  i.  e.  a  constitutional  quickness  of  Sympathy 
with  Pain  and  Pleasure,  and  a  keen  sense  of  the  gratifications 
that  accompany  social  intercourse,  mutual  endearments,  and 
reciprocal  preferences,  be  mistaken,  or  deemed  a  Substitute 
for  either.  They  are  not  even  sure  pledges  of  a  good  heart, 
though  among  the  most  common  meanings  of  that  many-mean- 
ing and  too  commonly  misapplied  expression. 

So  far  from  being  either  morality,  or  one  with  the  Moral 
Principle,  they  ought  not  even  be  placed  in  the  same  rank 
with  Prudence.  For  Prudence  is  at  least  an  offspring  of  the 
Understanding;  but  Sensibility  (the  Sensibility,  I  mean,  here 
spoken  of),  is  for  the  greater  part  a  quality  of  the  nerves,  and 
a  result  of  individual  bodily  temperament. 

Prudence  is  an  active  Principle,  and  implies  a  sacrifice  of 
Self,  though  only  to  the  same  Self  projected^  as  it  were,  to  a 
distance.  But  the  very  term  sensibility,  marks  its  passive 
nature ;  and  in  its  mere  self,  apart  from  Choice  and  Reflec- 
tion, it  proves  little  more  than  the  coincidence  or  contagion 
of  pleasureable  or  painful  Sensations  in  different  persons. 

Alas  !  how  many  are  there  in  this  over-stimulated  age,  in 
which  the  occurrence  of  excessive  and  unhealthy  sensitive- 
ness is  so  frequent,  as  even  to  have  reversed  the  current 
meaning  of  the  word,  nervous — how  many  are [26]  there 
whose  sensibility  prompts  them  to  remove  those  evils  alone, 
which  by  hideous  spectacle  or  clamorous  outcry  are  present 
to  their  senses  and  disturb  their  selfish  enjoyments.  Provi- 
ded the  dunghill  is  not  before  their  parlour  window,  they  are 
well  contented  to  know  that  it  exists,  and  perhaps  as  the  hot- 


32  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

bed  on  which  their  own  luxuries  are  reared.  Sensibility  is 
not  necessarily  Benevolence.  Nay,  by  rendering  us  trem- 
blingly alive  to  trifling  misfortunes,  it  frequently  prevents  it, 
and  induces  an  eifeminate  Selfishness  instead  ; 

Pampering  the  coward  heart 

With  feelings  all  too  delicate  for  use. 

Sweet  are  the  Tears,  that  from  a  Howard's  eye 

Drop  on  the  cheek  of  one,  he  lifts  from  earth : 

And  He,  who  works  me  good  with  unmoved  face, 

Does  it  but  half.     He  chills  me,  while  he  aids. 

My  Benefactor,  not  my  Brother  man. 

But  even  this,  this  cold  benevolence, 

Seems  Worth,  seems  Manhood,  when  there  rise  before  me 

The  sluggard  Pity's  vision-weaving  Tribe, 

Who  sigh  for  wretchedness  yet  shun  the  wretched, 

Nursing  in  some  delicious  Solitude 

Their  Slothful  Loves  and  dainty  Sympathies. 

Sibylline  Leaves ^  p.  180. 

Lastly,  where  Virtue  is,  Sensibility  is  the  ornament  and  be- 
coming Attire  of  Virtue.  On  certain  occasions  it  may  almost 
be  said  to  become[21]  Virtue.  But  Sensibility  and  all  the 
amiable  Qualities  may  likewise  become,  and  too  often  have 
become,  the  panders  of  Vice  and  the  instruments  of  Seduc- 
tion. 

So  must  it  needs  be  with  all  qualities  that  have  their  rise 
only  in  parts  and  fragments  of  our  nature.  A  man  of  warm 
passions  may  sacrifice  half  his  estate  to  rescue  a  friend  from 
Prison  :  for  he  is  naturally  sympathetic,  and  the  more  social 
part  of  his  nature  happened  to  be  uppermost.  The  same  man 
shall  aftei-wards  exhibit  the  same  disregard  of  money  in  an  at- 
tempt to   seduce  that  friend's  Wife  or  Daughter. 

All  the  evil  achieved  by  Hobbes  and  the  whole  School  of 
Materialists  will  appear  inconsiderable  if  it  be  compared  with 
the  mischief  effected  and  occasioned  by  the  Sentimental  Phi- 


REFLECTIONS    RESPECTING    MORALITY.  33 

losophy  of  Sterne,  and  his  numerous  Imitators.  The  vilest 
appetites  and  the  most  remorseless  inconstancy  towards  their 
objects,  acquired  the  titles  of  the  Hearty  the  irresistible  Feel- 
ings, the  tfio  tender  Sensibility :  and  if  the  Frosts  of  Prudence, 
the  icy  chains  of  Human  Law  thawed  and  vanished  at  the 
genial  warmth  of  Human  Nature,  who  could  help  it?  It  was 
an  amiable  weakness ! 

About  this  time  too  the  profanation  of  the  word,  Love,  rose 
to  its  height.  The  French  Naturalists,  Buffon  and  others 
borrowed  it  from  the  sentimental  Novelists :  the  Swedish  and 
English  Philosophers  took  the  contagion ;  and  the  muse  of 
Science  condescended  to  seek  admission  into  the  Saloons  of 
Fashion  and  Frivolity,  rouged  like  an  Harlot,  and  with  the 
Harlot's  wanton  leer.  I  know  not  how  the  Annals  of  Guilt 
could  be  better  forced  into  the  service  of  Virtue,  than  by  such 
a  Comment  on  the  present  paragraph,  as  would  be  afforded  by 
a  selection  from  the  sentimental  correspondence  produced  in 
Courts  of  Justice  within  the  last  thirty  years,  fairly  translated 
into  the  true  meaning  of  the  words,  and  the  actual  Object  and 
Purpose  of  the  infamous  writers.  Do  you  in  good  earnest  aim 
at  Dignity  of  Character  ?  By  all  the  treasures  of  a  peaceful 
mind,  by  all  the  charms  of  an  open  countenance,  I  conjure 
you,  O  youth  !  turn  away  from  those  who  live  in  the  Twilight 
between  Vice  and  Virtue.  Are  not  Reason,  Discrimination, 
Law,  and  deliberate  Choice,  the  distinguishing  Characters  of 
Humanity  ?  Can  aught  then  worthy  of  a  human  Being  pro- 
ceed from  a  Habit  of  Soul,  which  would  exclude  all  these  and 
(to  borrow  a  metaphor  from  Paganism)  prefer  the  den  of  Tro- 
phoniusto  the  Temple  and  Oracles  of  the  God  of  Light?  Can 
any  thing  manly,  I  say,  proceed  from  those,  who  for  Law  and 
Light  would  substitute  shapeless  feelings,  sentiments,  impul- 
ses, which  as  far  as  they  differ  from  the  vital  workings  in  the 
brute  animals  owe  the  difference  to  their  former  connexion 
with  the  proper  Virtues  of  Humanity ;  as  Dendrites  derive 
the  outlines,  that  constitute  their  value  above  other  clay- 
stones,  from  the  casual  neighbourhood  and  pressure  of  the 
Plants,   the  names  of  which    they  assume  !     Remember,  that 

5 


34  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Love  itself  in  its  highest  earthly  Bearing,  as  the  ground  of  the 
marriage  union[28],  becomes  Love  by  an  inward  fiat  of  the 
Will,  by  a  completing  and  sealing  Act  of  Moral  Election,  and 
lays  claim  to  permanence  only  under  the  form  of  duty. 

Again,  I  would  impress  it  on  the  reader,  that  in  order  to  the 
full  understanding  of  any  Whole,  it  is  necessary  to  have  learnt 
the  nature  of  the  component  parts,  of  each  severally  and,  as 
far  as  is  possible,  abstracted  from  the  changes  it  may  have  un- 
dergone in  its  combination  with  the  others.  On  this  account  I 
have  deferred  in  order  to  give  effectually  the  more  interesting 
and  far  more  cheering  contemplation  of  the  same  Subjects  in 
the  reverse  order ;  Prudence,  namely,  as  it  flows  out  of  Mo- 
rality, and  Morality  as  the  natural  Overflowing  of  Religion ; 
for  7'eligious  principle  is  always  the  true  though  sometimes 
the  hidden  Spring  and  Fountain  head  of  all  true  Morality. 

I  have  hitherto  considered  Prudence  and  Morality  as  two 
Streams  from  different  sources,  and  traced  the  former  to  its 
supposed  confluence  with  the  latter.  And  if  it  had  been  my 
present  purpose  and  undertaking  to  have  placed  Fruits  from 
my  own  Garden  before  the  Reader,  1  should  in  like  manner 
have  followed  the  course  of  Morality  from  its  Twin  Sources, 
the  Affections  and  the  Conscience,  till  (as  the  main  Feeder 
into  some  majestic  Lake  rich  with  hidden  Springs  of  its  own ) 
it  flowed  into,  and  became  one  with,  the  Spiritual  Life. 

But  without  a  too  glaring  Breach  of  the  promise,  that  the 
Banquet  for  the  greater  part  should  consist  of  Choice  Clusters 
from  the  Vineyards  of  Archbishop  Leighton,  this  was  not 
practicable,  and  now,  1  trust,  with  the  help  of  these  introduc- 
tory pages,  no  longer  necessary. 

Still,  however,  it  appears  to  me  of  the  highest  use  and  of 
vital  importance  to  let  it  be  seen,  that  Religion  or  the  Spirit- 
ual Life  is  a  something  in  itself,  for  which  mere  Morality, 
were  it  even  far  more  perfect  in  its  kind  than  experience  au- 
thorises us  to  expect  in  unaided  human  Nature,  is  no  Substi- 
tute, though  it  cannot  but  be  its  Accompaniment.  So  far, 
therefore,  I  have  adapted  the  arrangement  of  the  extracts  to 
this  principle,  that  though  1  have  found   it  impossible  to  sepa- 


REFLECTIONS    RESPECTING    MORALITY.  35 

rate  the  Moral  from  the  Religious,  the  morality  and  moral 
views  of  Leighton  being  every  where  taken  from  the  point 
of  Christian  Faith,  I  have  yet  brought  together  under  one 
head,  and  in  a  separate  Chapter,  those  subjects  of  Reflection, 
that  necessarily  suppose  or  involve  the  faith  in  an  eternal 
state,  and  the  probationary  nature  of  our  existence  under 
Time  and  Change, 

These  whether  doctrinal  or  ascetic  ( disciplinary ^  from  the 
Greek  aCxsw,  to  exercise  J  whether  they  respect  the  obstacles 
to  the  attainment  of  the  Eternal,  irremoveable  by  the  unre- 
newed and  unaided  Will  of  Man  ;  or  the  removal  of  these 
Obstacles,  with  its  Concurrents  and  Consequents ;  or  lastly, 
the  Truths,  necessary  to  a  rational  belief  in  the  Future,  and 
which  alone  can  interpret  the  Past,  or  solve  the  Riddle  of  the 
Present ;  are  especially  meant  in  the  term  Spiritual. 

Amply  shall  I  deem  myself  remunerated  if  either  by  the 
holy  Charm,  the  good  Spell  of  Leighton's  Words,  than  which 
few  if  any  since  the  Apostolic  age  better  deserve  the  name  of 
Evangelical^  or  by  my  own  notes  and  interpolations,  the  re- 
flecting Reader  should  be  enabled  to  apprehend — for  we  may 
rightly  apprehend  what  no  finite  mind  can  fully  comprehend — 
and  attach  a  distinct  meaning  to,  the  Mysteries  into  which  his 
Baptism  is  the  initiation ;  and  thus  to  feel  and  know,  that 
Christian  Faith  is  the  perfection  of  Human  Reason. 


MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  APHORISMS. 


APHORISM    I.  LEIGHTON. 

What  the  Apostles  were  in  an  extraordinary  way  befitting 
the  first  annunciation  of  a  Religion  for  ail  Mankind,  this  all 
Teachers  of  Moral  Truth,  who  aim  to  prepare  for  its  recep- 
tion by  calling  the  attention  of  men  to  the  Law  in  their  own 
hearts,  may^  without  presumption,  consider  themselves  to  be 
under  ordinary  gifts  and  circumstances :  namely,  Ambassadors 
for  the  Greatest  of  Kings,  and  upon  no  mean  employment, 
the  great  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Reconcilement  betwixt  him 
and  Mankind. 

APHORISM    II.  LElGHTOIf. 

OF    THE    FEELINGS    NATURAL    TO    INGENUOUS    MINDS     TOWARDS 
THOSE    WHO    HAVE    FIRST    LED    THEM    TO    REFLECT. 

Though  Divine  Truths  are  to  be  received  equally  from  eve- 
ry Minister  alike,  yet  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  is 
something  ( we  know  not  what  to  call  it )  of  a  more  accepta- 
ble reception  of  those  who  at  first  were  the  means  of  bring- 
ing men  to  God,  than  of  others ;  like  the  opinion  some  have 
of  physicians,  whom  they  love. 

APHORISM    III.  L.  AND  ED. 

The  worth  and  value  of  Knowledge  is  in  proportion  to  the 
worth  and  value  of  its  object.  What,  then,  is  the  best  knowl- 
edge ? 

The  exactest  knowledge  of  things,  is,  to  know  them  in  their 
causes ;  it  is  then  an  excellent  thing,  and  worthy  of  their  en- 
deavours who  are  most  desirous  of  knowledge,  to  know  the 
best  things  in  their  highest  causes ;  and  the  happiest  way  of 
attaining  to  this  knowledge,  is  to  possess  those  things,  and  to 
know  them  in  experience. 


38  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

APHORISM    IV.  LEIGHTON. 

It  is  one  main  point  of  happiness,  that  he  that  is  happy  doth 
know  and  judge  himself  to  be  so.  This  being  the  pecuUar 
good  of  a  reasonable  creature,  it  is  to  be  enjoyed  in  a  reason- 
able way.  It  is  not  as  the  dull  resting  of  a  stone,  or  any  oth- 
er natural  body  in  its  natural  place  ;  but  the  knowledge  and 
consideration  of  it  is  the  fruition  of  it,  the  very  relishing  and 
tasting  of  its  sweetness. 

REMARK. 

As  in  a  Christian  Land  we  receive  the  lessons  of  Morality 
in  connexion  with  the  Doctrines  of  Revealed  Religion,  we 
cannot  too  early  free  the  mind  from  prejudices  widely  spread 
in  part  through  the  abuse,  but  far  more  from  ignorance,  of  the 
true  meaning  of  doctrinal  Terms,  which,  however  they  may 
have  been  perverted  to  the  purposes  of  Fanaticism,  are  not 
only  scriptural,  but  of  too  frequent  occurrence  in  Scripture  to 
be  overlooked  or  passed  by  in  silence.  The  following  extract 
therefore,  deserves  attention,  as  clearing  the  doctrine  of  Sal- 
vation, in  connexion  with  the  divine  Foreknowledge,  from  all 
objections  on  the  score  of  Morality,  by  the  just  and  impressive 
view  which  the  Archbishop  here  gives  of  those  occasional 
revolutionary  moments,  that  Turn  of  the  Tide  in  the  mind 
and  character  of  certain  Individuals,  which  ( taking  a  religious 
course,  and  referred  immediately  to  the  Author  of  all  Good) 
were  in  his  day,  more  generally  than  at  present,  entitled  ef- 
fectual CALLING.  The  theological  interpretation  and  the 
philosophic  validity  of  this  Apostolic  Triad,  Election,  Salva- 
tion, and  Effectual  Calling,  (the  latter  being  the  intermediate) 
will  be  found  among  the  Editor's  Comments  on  the  Aphorisms 
of  Spiritual  Import.  For  our  present  purpose  it  will  be  suffi- 
cient if  only  we  prove,  that  the  Doctrines  are  in  themselves 
innocuous^  and  may  be  both  held  and  taught  without  any  prac- 
tical ill  consequences,  and  without  detriment  to  the  moral 
frame. 

APHORISM  V.  LEIGHTON. 

Two  Links  of  the  Chain  (viz.    Election  and  Salvation)  arc 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  39 

up  in  heaven  in  God's  own  hand;  but  this  middle  one  (i.  e. 
Effectual  Calling)  is  let  down  to  earth,  into  the  hearts  of  his 
children,  and  they  laying  hold  on  it  have  sure  hold  on  the  oth- 
er two :  for  no  power  can  sever  them.  If,  therefore,  they  can 
read  the  characters  of  God's  image  in  their  own  souls,  those 
are  the  counter-part  of  the  golden  characters  of  His  Love,  in 
which  their  names  are  written  in  the  book  of  life.  Their  be- 
lieving writes  their  names  under  the  promises  of  the  revealed 
book  of  life  (the  Scriptures)  and  thus  ascertains  them,  that 
the  same  names  are  in  the  secret  book  of  life  which  God  hath 
by  himself  from  eternity.  So  that  finding  the  stream  of 
grace  in  their  hearts,  though  they  see  not  the  fountain  whence 
it  flows,  nor  the  ocean  into  which  it  returns,  yet  they  know 
that  it  hath  its  source  in  their  eternal  election,  and  shall  empty 
itself  into  the  ocean  of  their  eternal  salvation. 

If  election^  effectual  calling  and  salvation  be  inseparably 
linked  together,  then,  by  any  one  of  them  a  man  may  lay 
hold  upon  all  the  rest,  and  may  know  that  this  hold  is  sure  ; 
and  this  is  the  way  wherein  we  may  attain,  and  ought  to  seek, 
the  comfortable  assurance  of  the  love  of  God.  Therefore 
make  your  calling  sure^  and  by  that,  your  election ;  for  that 
being  done,  this  follows  of  itself.  We  are  not  to  pry  imme- 
diately into  the  decree,  but  to  read  it  in  the  performance. 
Though  the  mariner  sees  not  the  pole-star^  yet  the  neeedle  of 
the  compass  which  points  to  it,  tells  him  which  way  he  sails ; 
thus  the  heart  that  is  touched  with  the  loadstone  of  divine 
love,  trembling  with  godly  fear,  and  yet  still  looking  towards 
God  by  fixed  believing,  interprets  the  fear  by  the  love  in  the 
fear,  and  tells  the  soul  that  its  course  is  heavenward,  towards 
the  haven  of  eternal  rest.  He  that  loves,  may  be  sure  he  was 
loved  first ;  and  he  that  chooses  God  for  his  delight  and  por- 
tion, may  conclude  confidently,  that  God  hath  chosen  him  to  be 
one  of  those  that  shall  enjoy  him,  and  be  happy  in  him  for  ev- 
er ;  for  that  our  love  and  electing  of  him  is  but  the  return  and 
repercussion  of  the  beams  of  his  love  shining  upon  us. 

Although  from  present  unsanctification,  a  man  cannot  infer 
that  he  is  not  elected  ;  for  the  decree  may,  for  part  of  a  man's 


40  AIDS  TO    REFLECTION. 

life,  run  (as  it  were)  underground  ;  yet  this  is  sure,  that  that 
estate  leads  to  death,  and  unless  it  be  broken,  will  prove  the 
black  line  of  reprobation.  A  man  hath  no  portion  amongst 
the  children  of  God,  nor  can  read  one  word  of  comfort  in  all 
tlie  promises  that  belong  to  them,  while  he  remains  unholy, 

REMARK. 

In  addition  to  the  preceding,  I  select  the  following  para- 
graphs as  having  no  where  seen  the  term.  Spirit,  the  Gifts  of 
the  Spirit,  and  the  like,  so  effectually  vindicated  from  the 
sneers  of  the  Sciolist  on  one  hand,  and  protected  from  the 
perversions  of  the  Fanatic  on  the  other.  In  these  paragraphs 
the  Archbishop  at  once  shatters  and  precipitates  the  only 
draw-bridge  between  the  fanatical  and  the  orthodox  doctrine 
of  Grace,  and  the  Gifts  of  the  Spirit.  In  Scripture  the  term. 
Spirit,  as  a  power  or  property  seated  in  the  human  soul,  never 
stands  singly,  but  is  always  specified  by  a  genitive  case  follow- 
ing ;  this  being  an  Hebraism  instead  of  the  adjective  which 
the  Writer  would  have  used  if  he  had  thought^  as  well  aa 
written,  in  Greek.  It  is  "the  Spirit  of  Meekness^'  (a  meek 
Spirit),  or  "the  Spirit  of  Chastity/'  and  the  like.  The  mo- 
ral Result,  the  specific  Form  and  Character  in  which  the  Spirit 
manifests  its  presence,  is  the  only  sure  pledge  and  token  of 
its  presence  :  which  is  to  be,  and  which  safely  may  be,  infer- 
red from  its  practical  eft'ects,  but  of  which  an  immeJia/e  knowl- 
edge or  consciousness  is  impossible  ;  and  every  Pretence  to 
such  knowledge  is  either  hypocrisy  or  fanatical  delusion. 

APHORISM    YI.  I.EIGHTON, 

If  any  pretend  that  they  have  the  Spirit,  and  so  turn  away 
from  the  straight  rule  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  they  have  a  spirit 
indeed,  but  it  is  a  fanatical  spirit,  a  spirit  of  delusion  and  gid- 
diness :  but  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  leads  his  children  in  the 
w^ay  of  truth,  and  is  for  that  purpose  sent  them,  from  heaven 
to  guide  them  thither,  squares  their  thoughts  and  ways  to  that 
rule  whereof  it  is  author,  and  that  word  which  was  inspired 


MORAL    AND   RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  41 

by  it,  and  sanctifies  them  to  obedience.  He  that  saith  I  know 
him,  and  keepeth  not  his  commandments j  is  a  liar,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  him.     ( 1  John  ii.  4.) 

Now  this  Spirit  which  sanctifieth,  and  sanctifieth  to  obedi- 
ence, is  within  us  the  evidence  of  our  election,  and  the  ear- 
nest of  our  salvation.  And  whoso  are  not  sanctified  and  led 
by  this  Spirit,  the  Apostle  tells  us  what  is  their  condition  :  If 
any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his.  The 
stones  which  are  appointed  for  that  glorious  temple  above,  are 
hewn,  and  polished,  and  prepared  for  it  here ;  as  the  stones 
were  wrought  and  prepared  in  the  mountains,  for  building  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem. 

COMMENT. 

There  are  many  serious  and  sincere  Christians  who  have 
not  attained  to  a  fullness  of  knowledge  and  insight,  but  are 
well  and  judiciously  employed  in  preparing  for  it.  Even  these 
may  study  the  master-works  of  our  elder  Divines  with  safety 
and  advantage,  if  they  will  accustom  themselves  to  translate 
the  theological  terms  into  their  moral  equivalents  ;  saying  to 
themselves — This  may  not  be  all  that  is  meant,  but  this  is 
meant,  and  it  is  that  portion  of  the  meaning,  which  belongs  to 
me  in  the  present  stage  of  my  progress.  For  example  :  ren- 
der the  words,  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  or  the  sanctifying 
influences  of  the  Spirit,  by.  Purity  in  Life  and  Action  from  a 
pure  Principle. 

We  need  only  reflect  on  our  own  experience  to  be  convin- 
ced, that  the  Man  makes  the  motive,  and  not  the  motive  the 
Man.  What  is  a  strong  motive  to  one  man,  is  no  motive  at 
all  to  another.  If,  then,  the  man  determines  the  motive,  what 
determines  the  Man — to  a  good  and  worthy  act,  we  will  say, 
or  a  virtuous  Course  of  Conduct  ?  The  intelligent  Will,  or 
the  self-determining  Power  ?  True,  in  part  ii  is ;  and  there- 
fore the  Will  is  pre-eminently  the  Sj^in/wfl/ Constituent  in  our 
Being.  But  will  any  reflecting  man  admit,  that  his  own  Will 
is  the  only  and  sufiicient  determinant  of  all  he  is,  and  all  he 
does  ?     Is  nothing  to  be  attributed  to  the  harmony  of  the  sys- 

6 


42  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

tern  to  which  he  belongs,  and  to  the  pre-established  Fitness 
of  the  Objects  and  Agents,  known  and  unknown,  that  sur- 
round him,  as  acting  on  the  will,  though  doubtless,  with  it 
likewise  ?  a  process,  which  the  co-instantaneous  yet  recipro- 
cal action  of  the  Air  and  the  vital  Energy  of  the  Lungs  in 
Breathing  may  help  to  render  intelligible. 

Again :  in  the  World  we  see  every  where  evidences  of  a 
Unity,  which  the  component  Parts  are  so  far  from  explaining 
that  they  necessarily  pre-suppose  it  as  th^  cause  and  condition 
of  their  existing  as  those  parts :  or  even  of  their  existing  at 
all.  This  antecedent  Unity,  or  Cause  and  Principle  of  each 
Union,  it  has  since  the  time  of  Bacon  and  Kepler  been  cus- 
tomary to  call  a  Law.  This  Crocus,  for  instance :  or  any 
other  Flower,  the  Reader  may  have  in  sight  or  choose  to 
bring  before  his  fancy.  That  the  root,  stem,  leaves,  petals, 
&c.  cohere  to  one  plant,  is  owing  to  an  antecedent  Power  or 
Principle  in  the  Seed,  w^hich  existed  before  a  single  particle  of 
the  matters  that  constitute  the  size  and  visibility  of  the  Cro- 
cus, had  been  attracted  from  the  surrounding  soil,  Air,  and 
Moisture.  Shall  we  turn  to  the  seed  ?  Here  too  the  same 
necessity  meets  us.  An  antecedent  Unity  (I  speak  not  of  the 
parent  plant,  but  of  an  agency  antecedent  in  the  order  of  op- 
perance,  yet  remaining  present  as  the  conservative  and  repro- 
ductive Power)  must  here  too  be  supposed.  Analyse  the 
Seed  with  the  finest  tools,  and  let  the  Solar  Microscope  come 
in  aid  of  your  senses,  what  do  you  find  ?  Means  and  instru- 
ments, a  wondrous  Fairy-tale  of  Nature,  Magazines  of  Food, 
Stores  of  various  sorts.  Pipes,  Spiracles,  Defences — a  House 
of  Many  Chambers,  and  the  Owner  and  Inhabitant  invisible  ! 
Reflect  further  on  the  countless  MiUions  of  Seeds  of  the  same 
Name,  each  more  than  numerically  difierenced  from  every 
other :  and  further  yet,  reflect  on  the  requisite  harmony  of  all 
surrounding  Things,  each  of  which  necessitates  the  same  pro- 
cess of  thought,  and  the  coherence  of  all  of  which  to  a  Sys- 
tem, a  World,  demands  its  own  adequate  Antecedent  Unity, 
whicii  must  therefore  of  necessity  be  present  to  all  and  in  all, 
yet  in  no  wise  excluding  or  suspending  the  individual  Law  or 


I 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  43 

Principle  of  Union  in  each.  Now  will  Reason,  will  Common 
Sense,  endure  the  assumption,  that  in  the  material  and  visible 
system  it  is  highly  reasonable  to  believe  a  Universal  Power, 
as  the  cause  and  pre-condition  of  the  harmony  of  all  particular 
Wholes,  each  of  which  involves  the  working  Principle  of  its 
own  Union,  that  it  is  reasonable,  I  say,  to  believe  this  respect- 
ing the  Aggregate  of  Objects,  which  without  a  Subject  (i.  e. 
a  sentient  and  intelligent  Existence)  would  be  purposeless 
and  yet  unreasonable  and  even  superstitious  or  enthusiastic  to 
entertain  a  similar  belief  in  relation  to  the  System  of  intelli- 
gent and  self-conscious  Beings,  to  the  moral  and  personal 
World  ?  But  if  in  this  too,  in  the  great  Community  of  Per- 
sons, it  is  rational  to  infer  a  One  universal  Presence,  a  One 
present  to  all  and  in  all,  is  it  not  most  irrational  to  suppose 
that  a  finite  will  can  exclude  it  ?  Whenever,  therefore,  the 
man  is  determined  (i.  e.  impelled  and  directed)  to  act  in  har- 
mony of  intercommunion,  must  not  something  be  attributed  to 
this  all-present  power  as  acting  in  the  Will  ?  and  by  what  fit- 
ter names  can  we  call  this  than  the  law,  as  empowering  ;  the 
WORD,  as  informing  ;  and  the  spirit,  as  actuating  ? 

What  has  been  here  said  amounts  ( I  am  aware )  only  to  a 
negative  Conception  ;  but  this  is  all  that  is  required  for  a 
mind  at  that  period  of  its  growth  which  we  are  now  suppo- 
sing, and  as  long  as  Religion  is  contemplated  under  the  form 
of  Morality.  A  positive  Insight  belongs  to  a  more  advanced 
stage  :  for  spiritual  truths  can  only  spiritually  be  discerned. 
This  we  know  from  Revelation,  and  (the  existence  of  spiritu- 
al truths  being  granted )  Philosophy  is  compelled  to  draw  the 
same  conclusion.  But  though  merely  negative,  it  is  sufficient 
to  render  the  union  of  Rehgion  and  IMorality  conceivable  ;  suf- 
ficient to  satisfy  an  unprejudiced  Inquirer,  that  the  spiritual 
Doctrines  of  the  Christian  Religion  are  not  at  war  with  the 
reasoning  faculty,  and  that  if  they  do  not  run  on  the  same 
Line  (or  Radius)  with  the  Understanding,  yet  neither  do  they 
cut  or  cross  it.  It  is  sufficient,  in  short,  to  prove,  that  some 
disrinct  and  consistent  meaning  may  be  attached  to  the  asser- 
tion of  the    learned  and  philosophic  Apostle,  that  '-the  spirit 


44-  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

beareth  witness  with  our  spirit" — i.  e.  with  the  Will^  as  the 
Supernatural  in  Man  and  the  Principle  of  our  Personalty — of 
that,  I  mean,  by  which  we  are  responsible  Agents ;  Persons^ 
and  not  merely  living  Things [29], 

It  will  suffice  to  satisfy  a  reflecting  mind,  that  even  at  the 
porch  and  threshold  of  Revealed  Truth  there  is  a  great  and 
worthy  sense  in  which  we  may  believe  the  Apostle's  assur- 
ance, that  not  only  doth  "  the  Spirit  aid  our  infirmities  ;"  that 
is  act  on  the  Will  by  a  predisposing  influence  from  without, 
as  it  were,  though  in  a  spiritual  manner,  and  without  suspen- 
ding or  destroying  its  freedom,  (the  possibility  of  which  is 
proved  to  us  in  the  influences  of  Education,  of  pro^ddential 
Occurrences,  and  above  all,  of  Example)  but  that  in  regene- 
rate souls  it  may  act  in  the  will ;  that  uniting  and  becoming 
one [30]  with  our  will  or  spirit  it  may  "make  intercession  for 
us ;  "  nay,  in  this  intimate  union  taking  upon  itself  the  form  of 
our  infirmities,  may  intercede  for  us  "  with  groanings  that  can- 
not be  uttered."  Nor  is  there  any  danger  of  Fanaticism  or 
Enthusiasm  as  the  consequence  of  such  a  belief,  if  only  the 
attention  be  carefully  and  earnestly  drawn  to  the  concluding 
words  of  the  sentence  (Romans,  viii.  v.  26.) ;  if  only  the  due 
force  and  the  full  import  be  given  to  the  term  unutterable  or 
incommunicable^  in  St.  Paul's  use  of  it.  In  this,  the  strictest 
and  most  proper  use  of  the  term,  it  signifies,  that  the  subject, 
of  which  it  is  predicated,  is  something  which  I  cannot^  which 
from  the  nature  of  the  thing  it  is  impossible  that  I  should,  com- 
municate to  any  human  mind  ( even  of  a  person  under  the  same 
conditions  with  myself)  so  as  to  make  it  in  itself  the  object  of 
his  direct  and  immediate  consciousness.  It  cannot  be  the  ob- 
ject oimy  own  direct  and  immediate  Consciousness;  but  must 
be  inferred.  Inferred  it  may  be  from  its  workings  :  it  cannot 
be  perceived  in  them.  And,  thanks  to  God  in  all  points  in 
w^hich  the  knowledge  is  of  high  and  necessary  concern  to  our 
moral  and  religious  welfare,  from  the  Effects  it  may  safely  be 
inferred  by  us,  from  the  Workings  it  may  be  assuredly  known  ; 
and  the  Scriptures  furnish  the  clear  and  unfailing  Rules  for 
directing  the  inquiry,  and  for  drawing  the  conclusion. 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  45 

If  any  reflecting  mind  be  surprised  that  the  aids  of  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  should  be  deeper  than  our  Consciousness  can  reach, 
it  must  arise  from  the  not  having  attended  sufficiently  to  the 
nature  and  necessary  limits  of  human  Consciousness.  For 
the  same  impossibility  exists  as  to  the  first  acts  and  movements 
of  our  own  will — the  farthest  back  our  recollection  can  follow 
the  traces,  never  leads  us  to  the  first  foot-mark — the  lowest 
depth  that  the  light  of  our  Consciousness  can  visit  even  with 
a  doubtful  Glimmering,  is  still  at  an  unknown  distance  from 
the  Ground  :  and  so,  indeed,  must  it  be  wdth  all  Truths,  and 
all  modes  of  Being  that  can  neither  be  counted,  coloured,  or 
delineated.  Before  and  After,  when  applied  to  such  Subjects, 
are  but  allegories,  which  the  Sense  or  Imagination  supply  to 
the  Understanding.  The  Position  of  the  Aristotelians,  Nihil 
in  intellectu  quod  non  prius  in  sensu,  on  which  Mr.  Locke's 
Essay  is  grounded,  is  irrefragable  :  Locke  erred  only  in  taking 
half  the  truth  for  a  whole  Truth.  Conception  is  consequent 
on  Perception.  What  we  cannot  imagine^  we  cannot,  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word,  conceive. 

I  have  already  given  one  definition  of  Nature.  Another, 
and  differing  from  the  former  in  words  only,  is  this  :  Whatever 
is  representable  in  the  forms  of  Time  and  Space,  is  Nature. 
But  whatever  is  comprehended  in  Time  and  Space,  is  included 
in  the  Mechanism  of  Cause  and  Effect,  And  conversely, 
whatever,  by  whatever  means,  has  its  principle  in  itself,  so 
far  as  to  originate  its  actions,  cannot  be  contemplated  in  any 
of  the  forms  of  Space  and  Time — it  must,  therefore,  be  con- 
sidered as  Spirit  or  Spiritual  by  a  mind  in  that  stage  of  its 
Developement  which  is  here  supposed,  and  which  we  have 
agreed  to  understand  under  the  name  of  morality,  or  the  Mo- 
ral State  :  for  in  this  stage  we  are  concerned  only  with  the 
forming  of  negative  conceptions,  negative  convictions  ;  and  by 
spiritual  I  do  not  pretend  to  determine  what  the  Will  is,  but 
what  it  is  not — namely,  that  it  is  not  Nature.  And  as  no  man 
who  admits  a  Will  at  all,  (for  we  may  safely  presume,  that  no 
man  not  meaning  to  speak  figuratively,  would  call  the  shifting 
Current  of  a  stream  the  will[31]  of  the  River),  will  suppose 


46  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

it  beloio  Nature,  we  may  safely  add,  that  it  is  super-natural ; 
and  this  without  the  least  pretence  to  any  positiv^e  Notion  or 
Insight. 

Now  Morality  accompanied  with  Convictions  like  these,  I 
have  ventured  to  call  Religious  Morality.  Of  the  importance 
I  attach  to  the  state  of  mind  implied  in  these  convictions,  for 
its  own  sake,  and  as  the  natural  preparation  for  a  yet  higher 
state  and  a  more  substantive  knowledge,  proof  more  than  suf- 
ficient, perhaps,  has  been  given  in  the  length  and  minuteness 
of  this  introductory  Discussion,  and  in  the  foreseen  risk  which  I 
run  of  exposing  the  volume  at  large  to  the  censure  which  every 
work,  or  rather  which  every  writer,  must  be  prepared  to  un- 
dergo, who,  treating  of  subjects  that  cannot  be  seen,  touched, 
or  in  any  other  way  made  matters  of  outward  sense,  is  yet 
anxious  both  to  attach  and  to  convey  a  distinct  meaning  to  the 
words  he  makes  use  of — the  censure  of  being  dry,  abstract,  and 
(of  all  qualities  most  scaring  and  opprobrious  to  the  ears  of 
the  present  ^eneYniion)  metaphysical :  though  how  is  it  pos- 
sible that  a  work  not  physical^  that  is,  employed  on  Objects 
known  or  believed  on  the  evidence  of  Sense,  should  be  oth- 
er than  7we/aphysical,  that  is,  treating  on  Subjects,  the  evidence 
of  which  is  not  derived  from  the  Senses,  is  a  problem  which 
Critics  of  this  order  find  it  convenient  to  leave  unsolved. 

The  Editor  and  Annotator  of  the  present  Volume,  will,  in- 
deed, have  reason  to  think  himself  fortunate,  if  this  be  all  the 
Charge !  How  man}^  smart  quotations,  which  ( duly  cemented 
by  personal  allusions  to  the  Author\s  supposed  Pursuits,  Attach- 
ments, and  Infirmities),  would  of  themselves  make  up  "A 
'  Review"  of  the  Volume,  might  be  supplied  from  the  works 
of  Butler,  Swift  and  Warburton.  For  instance  :  '  It  may  not 
'  be  amiss  to  inform  the  Public,  that  the  Compiler  of  the  Aids 
'to  reflection,  and  Commenter  on  a  Scotch  Bishop's  platonico- 
'  calvinistic  commentary  on  St.  Peter,  belongs  to  the  Sect  of 
'  the  JEolists^  whose  fruitful  imaginations  lead  them  into  cer- 
'tain  notions,  which  although  in  appearance  very  unaccounta- 
^ble,  are  not  without  their  mysteries  and  their  meanings  ;  fur- 
'nishing  plenty  of  Matter  for  buch,  ivhose  converting  Imagi- 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS     APHORISMS.  47 

^ nations  disjiose  them  to  reduce  all  things  into  types;  xuho 
'■can  make  shadows,  no  thanks  to  the  Sun:  and  then  mould 
'  them  into  substances,  no  tha^iks  to  Philosophy :  whose  pe- 
'culiar'  Talent  lies  infixing  tropes  and  allegories  to  the 
'letter,  and  refining  what  is  literal  into  figure  and  mys- 
'tery.' — Tale  of  the  Tuh^  Sect.  xi. 

And  would  it  were  my  lot  to  meet  with  a  Critic,  who,  in 
the  might  of  his  own  Convictions,  and  with  arms  of  equal 
Point  and  Efficiency  from  his  own  Forge,  would  come  forth  as 
my  assailant ;  or  who,  as  a  friend  to  my  purpose,  would  set 
forth  the  Objections  to  the  matter  and  pervading  Spirit  of  these 
Aphorisms,  and  the  accompanying  Elucidations.  Were  it  my 
task  to  form  the  mind  of  a  young  man  of  Talent,  desirous  to 
establish  his  opinions  and  belief  on  solid  principles,  and  in  the 
light  of  distinct  understanding,  I  would  commence  his  theolo- 
gical studies,  or,  at  least,  that  most  important  part  of  them  re- 
specting the  aids  which  Religion  promises  in  our  attempts  to 
realize  the  ideas  of  Morality,  by  bringing  together  all  the  pas- 
sages scattered  throughout  the  Writings  of  Swift  and  Butler, 
that  bear  on  Enthusiasm,  Spiritual  Operations,  and  pretences 
to  the  Gifts  of  the  Spirit,  w^ith  the  whole  train  of  New  Lights, 
Raptures,  Experiences,  and  the  like.  For  ail  that  the  richest 
Wit,  in  intimate  union  with  profound  Sense  and  steady  Obser- 
vation, can  supply  on  these  Topics,  is  to  be  found  in  the  works 
of  these  Satirists ;  though  unhappily  alloyed  w^ith  much  that 
can  only  tend  to  pollute  the  Imagination. 

Without  stopping  to  estimate  the  degree  of  caricature  m 
the  Portraits  sketched  by  these  bold  Masters,  and  without  at- 
tempting to  determine  in  how  many  of  the  Enthusiasts,  brought 
forward  by  them  in  proof  of  the  influence  of  false  Doctrines, 
a  constitutional  Insanity,  that  would  probably  have  show^n  it- 
self in  some  other  form,  would  be  the  truer  Solution,  I  would 
direct  my  Pupil's  attention  to  one  feature  common  to  the  whole 
Group — the  pretence,  namely,  of  possessing,  or  a  Belief  and 
Expectation  grounded  on  other  men's  assurances  of  their  pos- 
sessing, an  immediate  Consciousness,  a  sensible  Experience, 
of  the  Spirit  in  and  during  its  operation  on  the  soul.     It  is  not 


48  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

enough  that  you  grant  them  a  consciousness  of  the  Gifts  and 
Graces  infused,  or  an  assurance  of  the  Spiiitual  Origin  of  the 
same,  grounded  on  their  correspondence  to  the  Scripture  Pro- 
mises^ and  their  conformity  with  the  Idea  of  the  divine  Giver. 
No!  They  all  alike,  it  will  be  found,  lay  claim  (or  at  least 
look  forward )  to  an  inward  perception  of  the  Spirit  itself  and 
of  its  operating. 

Whatever  must  be  misrepresented  in  order  to  be  ridiculed, 
is  in  fact  not  ridiculed ;  but  the  thing  substituted  for  it.  It  is 
a  Satire  on  something  else,  coupled  with  a  Lie  on  the  part  of 
the  Satirist,  who  knowing,  or  having  the  means  of  knowing 
the  truth,  chose  to  call  one  thing  by  the  name  of  another.  The 
Pretensions  to  the  Supernatural,  pilloried  by  Butler,  sent  to 
Bedlam  by  Swift,  and  (on  their  re-appearance  in  public)  gib- 
betted  by  Warburton,  and  anatomized  by  Bishop  Lavington, 
one  and  all  have  this  for  their  essential  character,  that  the 
Spirit  is  made  the  immediate  Object  of  Sense  or  Sensation. 
Whether  the  Spiritual  Presence  and  agency  are  supposed  cog- 
nizable by  an  indescribable  Feeling  or  in  unimaginable  Vision 
by  some  specific  visual  energy ;  whether  seen,  or  heard,  or 
touched,  smelt,  and  tasted — for  in  those  vast  Storehouses  of 
fanatical  assertion,  the  volumes  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and 
religious  Auto-biography,  Instances  are  not  wanting  even  of 
the  three  latter  extravagancies— this  variety  in  the  mode  may 
render  the  several  pretensions  more  or  less  offensive  to  the 
Ta^te  ;  but  with  the  same  Absurdity  for  the  Reason,  this  be- 
ing derived  from  a  contradiction  in  terms  common  and  radical 
to  them  all  alike,  the  assumption  of  a  something  essentially 
supersensual,  that  is  nevertheless  the  object  of  sense,  i.  e,  not 
supersensual. 

Well  then  ! — for  let  me  be  allowed  still  to  suppose  the  Reader 
present  to  me,  and  that  I  am  addressing  him  in  the  character 
of  Companion  and  Guide — the  positions  recommended  for  your 
examination  not  only  do  not  involve,  but  exclude,  this  incon- 
sistency. And  for  aught  that  hitherto  appears,  we  may  see 
with  complacency  the  Arrows  of  Satire  feathered  with  Wit, 
weighted  with  Sense,  and  discharged  by  a  strong  Arm,  fly 


>« 


f^7  MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  49 

home  to  their  mark.  Our  Conceptions  of  a  possible  Spiritual 
Communion,  though  they  are  but  negative,  and  only  prepara- 
tory to  a  faith  in  its  actual  existence,  stand  neither  in  the  Le- 
vel nor  the  Direction  of  the  Shafts. 

If  it  be  objected,  that  Swift  and  Warburton  did  not  choose 
openly  to  set  up  the  interpretations  of  later  and  more  rational 
Divines  against  the  decisions  of  their  own  Church,  and  from 
prudential  considerations  did  not  attack  the  doctrine  in  toto  : 
that  is  /^eir  concern  (1  would  answer),  and  it  is  more  charita- 
ble to  think  otherwise.     But  we  are  in  the  silent  school  of  Re- 

^  flection,  in  the  secret  confessional  of  Thought.  Should  we 
'lie  for  God,'  and  that  to  our  own  Thoughts?  They  indeed, 
who  dare  do  the  one,  will  soon  be  able  to  do  the  other.  So 
did  the  Comforters  of  Job :  and  to  the  Divines,  who  resemble 
Job's  Comforters,  we  will  leave  both  attempts. 

But  (it  may  be  said),  a  possible  Conception  is  not  necessa- 
rily a  true  one  ;  nor  even  a  probable  one,  where  the  Facts  can 
be  otherwise  explained.  In  the  name  of  the  supposed  Pupil 
I  would  reply — That  is  the  very  question  I  am  preparing 
myself  to  examine  ;  and  am  now  seeking  the  Vantage-ground 
where  I  may  best  command  the  Facts.  In  my  own  person,  I 
would  ask  the  Objector,  whether  he  counted  the  Declarations  of 
Scripture  among  the  Facts  to  be  explained.  But  both  for  my- 
self and  my  pupil,  and  in  behalf  of  all  rational  Enquiry,  I  would 
demand  that  the  Decision  should  not  be  such,  in  itself  or  in 
its  effects,  as  would  prevent  our  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
most  important  of  these  Facts ;  nay,  such  as  would,  for  the 
mind  of  the  Decider,  preclude  their  very  existence.  Unless 
ye  believe^  says  the  Prophet,  ye  cannot  understand.  Suppose 
( what  is  at  least  possible )  that  the  facts  should  be  consequent 

)jt  on  the  belief,  it  is  clear  that  without  the  belief  the  materials, 
on  which  the  understanding  is  to  exert  itself,  would  be  want- 
ing. 

The  reflections  that  naturally  arise  out  of  this  last  remark, 
are  those  that  best  suit  the  stage  at  which  we  last  halted,  and 
from  which  we  now  recommence  our  progress — the  state  of  a 
Moral  Man,  who  has  already  welcomed  certain  truths  of  Re- 


if 


■^■- 


TH' 


50  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ligion,  and  is  enquiring  after  other  and  more  special  Doctrines : 
still  however  as  a  Moralist,  desirous  indeed  to  receive  them 
into  combination  with  Morality,  but  to  receive  them  as  its  Aid, 
not  as  its  Substitute.  Now,  to  such  a  man  I  say  ;  Before  you 
reject  the  Opinions  and  Doctrines  asserted  and  enforced  in  the 
following  Extract  from  our  eloquent  Author,  and  before  you 
give  way  to  the  Emotions  of  Distaste  or  Ridicule,  which  the 
Prejudices  of  the  Circle  in  which  you  move,  or  your  own  fa- 
miliarity with  the  mad  perversions  of  the  doctrine  by  Fanat- 
ics in  all  ages,  have  connected  with  the  very  words.  Spirit, 
Grace,  Gifts,  Operations,  &c.  re-examine  the  arguments  ad- 
vanced in  the  first  pages  of  this  Introductory  Comment,  and 
the  simple  and  sober  View  of  the  Doctrine,  contemplated  in 
the  first  instance  as  a  mere  Idea  of  the  Reason,  flowing  natu- 
rally from  the  admission  of  an  infinite  omnipresent  Mind  as  the 
Ground  of  the  Universe.  Reflect  again  and  again,  and  be  sure 
that  you  understand  the  Doctrine  before  you  determine  on  re- 
jecting it.  That  no  false  judgments,  no  extravagant  conceits, 
no  practical  ill-consequences  need  arise  out  of  the  Belief  of 
the  Spirit,  and  its  possible  communion  with  the  Spiritual  Prin- 
ciple in  Man,  or  can  arise  out  of  the  right  Belief,  or  are  com- 
patible with  the  Doctrine  truly  and  scripturally  explained, 
Leighton,  and  almost  every  single  Period  in  the  Passage  here 
transcribed  from  him,  will  suffice  to  convince  you. 

On  the  other  hand,  reflect  on  the  consequences  of  rejecting 
it.  For  surely  it  is  not  the  act  of  a  reflecting  mind,  nor  the  part 
of  a  Man  of  Sense  to  disown  and  cast  out  one  Tenet,  and  yet 
persevere  in  admitting  and  clinging  to  another  that  has  neither 
sense  nor  purpose,  that  does  not  suppose  and  rest  on  the  truth 
and  reality  of  the  former !  If  you  have  resolved  that  all  be- 
lief of  a  divine  Comforter  present  to  our  inmost  Being  and 
aiding  our  infirmities,  is  fond  and  fanatical — if  the  Scriptures 
promising  and  asserting  such  communion  are  to  be  explained 
away  into  the  action  of  circumstances,  and  the  necessary  move- 
ments of  the  vast  machine,  in  one  of  the  circulating  chains  of 
which  the  human  Will  is  a  petty  link — in  what  better  light  can 
Prayer  appear  to  you,  than  the  groans  of  a  wounded  Lion  in 


«: 


_  ■*■ 


t 


MORAL    ANH   RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  51 

his  solitary  Den,  or  the  howl  of  a  Dog  with  his  eyes  on  the 
Moon  ?  At  the  best,  you  can  regard  it  only  as  a  transient  be- 
wilderment of  the  Social  Instinct,  as  a  Social  Habit  misapplied ! 
Unless  indeed  you  should  adopt  the  theory  which  I  remember 
to  have  read  in  the  writings  of  the  late  Dr.  Jebb,  and  for  some 
supposed  beneficial  re-action  of  Praying  on  the  Prayer's  own 
Mind,  should  practise  it  as  a  species  of  Animal- Magnetism  to  be 
brought  about  by  a  wilful  eclipse  of  the  Reason,  and  a  tempo- 
rary make-believe  on  the  part  of  the  Self-magnetizer ! 

At  all  events,  do  not  prejudge  a  Doctrine,  the  utter  rejec- 
tion of  which  must  oppose  a  formidable  obstacle  to  your  ac- 
ceptance of  Christianity  itself,  when  the  Books,  from  which 
ilone  we  can  learn  what  Christianity  is  and  teaches,  are  so 
strangely  written,  that  in  a  series  of  the  most  concerning  points, 
including  (historical  facts  excepted)  all  the  peculiar  Tenets  of 
the  Religion,  the  plain  and  obvious  meaning  of  the  words,  that 
in  which  they  were  understood  by  Learned  and  Simple  for  at 
least  sixteen  Centuries,  during  the  far  larger  part  of  which  the 
language  was  a  living  language,  is  no  sufficient  guide  to  their 
actual  sense  or  to  the  Writer's  own  Meaning  !  And  this  too, 
where  the  literal  and  received  Sense  involves  nothing  impossi- 
ble, or  immoral,  or  contrary  to  reason.  With  such  a  persuasion. 
Deism  would  be  a  more  consistent  Creed.  But,  alas !  even 
this  will  fail  you.  The  utter  rejection  of  all  present  and  liv- 
ing communion  with  the  Universal  Spirit  impoverishes  Deism 
itself,  and  renders  it  as  cheerless  as  Atheism,  from  which  in- 
deed it  would  differ  only  by  an  obscure  impersonation  of  what  3>£? 
the  Atheist  receives  unpersonified  under  the  name  of  Fate  or  v 
Nature. 

APHORISM    VII.  L.  AND  ED. 

The  proper  and  natural  Effect,  and  in  the  absence  of  all  dis- 
turbing or  intercepting  forces,  the  certain  and  sensible  accom- 
paniment of  Peace  (or  Reconcilement)  with  God,  is  our  own 
inward  Peace,  a  calm  and  quiet  temper  of  mind.  And  where 
there  is  a  consciousness  of  earnestly  desiring,  and  of  having 
sincerely  striven  after  the  former,  the  latter  may  be  consider- 


52  #" 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


ed  as  a  Sense  of  its  presence.     In  this  case,  I  say,  and  for  a 
soul  watchful,  and    under  the  discipline   of  the  Gospel,  the 
Peace  with  a  man's  self  may  be  the  medium  or  organ  through 
which  the  assurance  of  his  Peace  with  God  is  conveyed.     We 
will  not  therefore  condemn  this  mode  of  speaking,  though  we 
dare  not  greatly  recommend  it.     Be  it,  that  there  is,  truly  and 
in  sobriety  of  speech,  enough  of  just  Analogy  in  the  subjects 
meant,  to  make  this  use  of  the  words,  if  less  than  proper,  yet 
something  more  than  metaphorical ;  still  we  must  be  cautious 
not  to  transfer  to  the  Object  the  defects  or  the  deliciency  of 
the  Organ,  which  must  needs  partake  of  the  imperfections  of 
the  imperfect  Beings  to  whom  it  belongs.     Not  without  the 
co-assurance  of  other  senses  and  of  the  same  sense  in  other 
men,  dare  we  affirm  that  what  our  Eye  beholds,  is  verily  there 
to  be  beheld.     Much  less  may  we  conclude  negatively,  and 
from  the  inadequacy  or  suspension  or  affections  of  the  Sight 
infer  the  non-existence,  or  departure,  or  changes  of  the  Thing 
itself.     The  Chameleon  darkens  in  the  shade  of  him  that  bends 
over  it  to  ascertain  its   colours.     In  like  manner,  but  with  yet 
greater  caution,  ought  we  to  think  respecting  a  tranquil  habit  of 
the  inward  life,  considered  as  a  spiritual  Sense^  as  the  medial  Or- 
gan in  and  by  which  our  peace  with  God,  and  the  lively  v»'ork- 
ing  of  his   Grace    on  our   Spirit,  are  perceived    by  us.     This 
Peace  which  we  have  with   God  in  Christ,  is  inviolable  ;  but 
because  the  sense  and  persuasion  of  it  may  be  interrupted,  the 
soul  that  is  truly  at  peace  with  God  may  for  a  time  be  disqui- 
eted in   itself,  through  weakness  of  faith,   or  the   strength  of 
temptation,  or  the  darkness   of  desertion,  losing  sight  of  that 
grace,  that  love  and  light  of  God's  countenance,  on  which   its 
tranquillity  and  joy  depend.     Thoii  didst  hide  thy  face^  saith 
David,  and  I  was  troubled.     But  when  these  eclipses  are  over 
the  soul  is  revived   with  new   consolation,  as   the  face  of  the 
earth  is    renewed  and  made  to    smile  with   the  return  of  the 
sun  in  the  spriilg  ;  and  this  ought  always  to  uphold  Christians 
in  the  saddest  times,  viz.    that  the  grace    and  love  of  God  to- 
wards them  depend  not  on  their  sense,  nor  upon  any  thing   in 
them,  but  is  still  in  itself,  incapable  o(  I  he  tmallcst  alteration. 


MORAL,    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  53 

A  holy  heart  that  gladly  entertains  grace,  shall  find  that  it 
and  peace  cannot  dwell  asunder  ;  while  an  ungodly  man  may 
sleep  to  death  in  the  lethargy  of  carnal  presumption  and  im- 
penitency ;  but  a  true,  lively,  solid  peace  he  cannot  have. 
There  is  no  peace  to  the  ivickedj  saith  my  God^  Isa.  Ivii.  21. 

APHORISM    yiir.  LEIGHTON. 

WORLDLY    HOPES. 

Worldly  hopes  are  not  living,  but  lying  hopes  ;  they  die  oft- 
en before  us,  and  we  live  to  bury  them,  and  see  our  own  folly 
and  infelicity  in  trusting  to  them ;  but  at  the  utmost,  they  die 
with  us  when  we  die,  and  can  accompany  us  no  further.  But 
the  lively  Hope,  which  is  the  Christian's  Portion,  answers  ex- 
pectation to  the  full,  and  much  beyond  it,  and  deceives  no  way 
but  in  that  happy  way  of  far  exceeding  it. 

A  living  hope^  living  in  death  itself !  The  world  dares  say 
no  more  for  its  device,  than  Durn  spiro  spero  ;  but  the  chil- 
dren of  God  can  add,  by  virtue  of  this  living  hope,  Durn  ex- 
spiro  spero, 

APHORISM  IX.  LEIGHTON. 

THE    worldling's    FEAR. 

It  is  a  fearful  thing  when  a  man  and  all  his  hopes  die  to- 
gether. Thus  saith  Solomon  of  the  wicked,  Prov.  xi.  7., 
When  he  dieth,  then  die  his  hopes;  (many  of  them  before^ 
but  at  the  utmost  ^/ien[32],  all  of  them  ;)  but  the  righteous 
hath  hope  in  his  death^  Prov.  xiv.  32. 

APHORISM    X.  L.  AND  ED. 

WORLDLY    MIRTH. 

As  he  that  taketh  away  a  garment  in  cold  tveathcr,  and  as 
vinegar  uponnitre.,  so  is  he  that singeth songs  to  a  heavy  hearty 
Prov.  xxv.  20.  Worldl}'  mirth  is  so  far  from  curing  spiritual 
grief,  that  even  worldly  grief,  where  it  is  great  and  takes  deep 
root,  is  not  allayed  but  increased  by  it.  A  man  who  is  full  of 
inward  heaviness,  the  more  he  is  encompassed  about  with 
mirth,  it  exasperates  and  enrages  his  grief  the  more  ;  like    in- 


54  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

effectual  weak  physic,  which  removes  not  the  humour,  but  stirs 
it  and  makes  it  more  unquiet.  But  spiritual  joy  is  seasonable 
for  all  estates  :  in  prosperity,  it  is  pertinent  to  crown  and  sanc- 
tify all  other  enjoyments,  with  this  which  so  far  surpasses 
them ;  and  in  distress,  it  is  the  only  Nepenthe^  the  cordial  of 
fainting  spirits  :  so,  Psal.  iv.  7,  He  hath  put  joy  into  my  heart. 
This  mirth  makes  way  for  itself,  which  other  mirth  cannot  do. 
These  songs  are  sweetest  in  the  night  of  distress. 

There  is  something  exquisitely  beautiful  and  touching  in  the 
first  of  these  similes :  and  the  second,  though  less  pleasing  to 
the  imagination,  has  the  charm  of  propriety,  and  expresses  the 
transition  with  equal  force  and  liveliness.  A  grief  of  recent 
birth  is  a  sick  infant  that  must  have  its  medicine  administered 
in  its  Milk,  and  sad  Thoughts  are  the  sorrowful  Heart's  natu- 
ral food.  This  is  a  Complaint  that  is  not  to  be  cured  by  op- 
posites,  which  for  the  most  part  only  reverse  the  symptoms 
while  they  exasperate  the  Disease — or  like  a  rock  in  the  Mid 
Channel  of  a  River  swoln  by  a  sudden  rain-flush  from  the 
mountain,  which  only  detains  the  excess  of  Waters  from  their 
proper  outlet,  and  make  them  foam,  roar,  and  eddy.  The 
Soul  in  her  desolation  hugs  the  sorrow  close  to  her,  as  her 
sole  remaining  garment :  and  this  must  be  drawn  off  so  grad- 
ually, and  the  garment  to  be  put  in  its  stead  so  gradually  slipt 
on  and  feel  so  like  the  former,  that  the  Sufferer  shall  be  sensi- 
ble of  the  change  only  by  the  refreshment.  The  true  Spirit 
of  Consolation  is  well  content  to  detain  the  tear  in  the  eye, 
and  finds  a  surer  pledge  of  its  success  in  the  smile  of  Resig- 
nation that  dawns  through  that,  than  in  the  liveliest  shows    of 

a  forced  and  alien  exhilaration. 

■*■' 

APHORISM  XI.  EDITOR. 

Plotinus  thanked  God,  that  his  Soul  was  not  tied  to  an  im- 
mortal body. 

APHORISM    XII.  L.  AND  ED. 

What  a  full  Confession  do  we  make  of  our  dissatisfaction 
with  the  Objects  of  our  bodily  senses,   that  in  our  attempts   to 


■^ 


I 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  55 

express  what  we  conceive  the  Best  of  Beings,  and  the  great- 
est of  Felicities  to  be,  we  describe  by  the  exact  Contraries  of 
all,  that  we  experience  here — the  one  as  Infinite,  /ncompre- 
hensible,  //^mutable,  &c.  the  other  as  incorruptible,  wndefiled, 
and  that  passeth  not  away.  At  all  events,  this  Coincidence, 
say  rather.  Identity  of  Attributes  is  sufficient  to  apprize  us, 
that  to  be  inheritors  of  Bliss  we  must  become  the  children  of 
God. 

This  Remark  of  Leighton'sis  ingenious  and  startling.  Ano- 
ther, and  more  fruitful,  perhaps  more  solid,  inference  from  the 
fact  would  be,  that  there  is  something  in  the  human  mind 
which  makes  it  know  ( as  soon  as  it  is  sufficiently  awakened 
to  reflect  on  its  own  thoughts  and  notices),  that  in  all  finite 
Quantity  there  is  an  Infinite,  in  all  measures  of  Time  an  Eter- 
nal ;  that  the  latter  are  the  basis,  the  substance,  the  true  and 
abiding  reality  of  the  former  ;  and  that  as  we  truly  are,  only 
as  far  as  God  is  with  us,  so  neither  can  we  truly  possess  (i.  e. 
enjoy)  our  Being  or  any  other  real  Good,  but  by  living  in  the 
sense  of  his  holy  presence. 

A  Life  of  Wickedness  is  a  Life  of  Lies :  and  an  Evil  Be- 
ing, or  the  Being  of  Evil,  the  last  and  darkest  mystery. 

APHORISM    XIII.  LEIGHTON. 

THE    WISEST    USE    OF    THE    IMAGINATION. 

It  is  not  altogether  unprofitable  ;  yea,  it  is  great  wisdom  in 
Christians  to  be  arming  themselves  against  such  temptations 
as  may  befal  them  hereafter,  though  they  have  not  as  yet 
met  with  them  ;  to  labour  to  overcome  them  before-hand,  to 
suppose  the  hardest  things  that  may  be  incident  to  them,  and 
to  put  on  the  strongest  resolutions  they  can  attain  unto.  Yet 
all  that  is  but  an  imaginary  effort ;  and  therefore  there  is  no 
assurance  that  the  victory  is  any  more  than  imaginary  too, 
till  it  come  to  action,  and  then,  they  that  have  spoken  and 
thought  very  confidently,  may  prove  but  (as  one  said  of  the 
Athenians)  fortes  in  ^a6w/a,  patient  and  courageous  in  picture, 
or  fancy  ;  and  notwithstanding  all  their  arms,  and  dexterity  in 


1^ 


56  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

handling  them    by  way  of  exercise,    may  be    foully  defeated 
when  they  are  to  fight  in  earnest. 

APHORISM  XIY.  EDITOR. 

THE    LANGUAGE    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

The  Word  of  God  speaks  to  Men,  and  therefore  it  speaks 
the  language  of  the  Children  of  Men.  This  just  and  preg- 
nant Thought  was  suggested  to  Leighton  by  Gen.  xxii.  12. 
The  same  Text  has  led  the  Editor  to  unfold  and  expand  the 
Remark. — On  moral  subjects,  the  Scriptures  speak  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Affections  which  they  excite  in  us  ;  on  sensible 
objects,  neither  metaphysically,  as  they  are  known  by  supe- 
rior intelligences :  nor  theoreticall}',  as  they  would  be  seen 
by  us  were  we  placed  in  the  Sun  ;  but  as  they  are  represented 
by  our  human  senses  in  our  present  relative  position.  Lastly, 
from  no  vain,  or  worse  than  vain,  Ambition  of  seeming  "to 
walk  on  the  Sea"  of  Mystery  in  my  way  to  Truth,  but  in  the  "^ 
hope  of  removing  a  difficulty  that  presses  heavily  on  the 
minds  of  many  who  in  Heart  and  Desire  are  believers,  and 
which  long  pressed  on  my  own  mind,  I  venture  to  add  :  that 
on  spiritual  things,  and  allusively  to  the  mysterious  union  or 
conspiration  Of  the  Divine  with  the  Human  in  the  Spirits  of 
the  Just,  spoken  of  in  Romans,  viii.  27.,  the  Word  of  God  at- 
tributes the  language  of  the  Spirit  sanctified  to  the  Holy  One, 
the  Sanctifier. 

Now  the  Spirit  in  Man  (that  is,  the  Will)  knows  its  own 
State  in  and  by  its  Acts  alone  :  even  as  in  geometrical  reason- 
ing the  Mind  knows  its  constructive  faculty  in  the  act  of  con- 
structing, and  contemplates  the  act  in  the  jiroduct  (i.  e.  the 
mental  figure  or  diagram)  which   is  inseparable  from  the   act 

and  co-instantaneous.  '*; 

» 

Let  the  Reader  join  these  two  positions  :  first,  that  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  acting  m  the  Human  Will  is  described  as  one  with 
the  Will  so  filled  and  actuated  :  secondly,  that  our  actions  are 
the  means,  by  which  alone  the  Will  becomes  assured  of  its 
own  state  :  and  he  will  understand,  though  he  may  not  per- 
haps adopt  my  suggestion,  that  the  Verse,  in  which  God  speak- 

M  .A 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  Oi 

ing  of  himself,  says  to  Abraham,  Now  I  know  that  thou  fcar- 
est  God,  seeing  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  Son,  thy  only  vSon 
from  me — may  be  more  than  merely  figurative.  An  accom- 
modation I  grant ;  but  in  the  thing  expressed,  and  not  alto- 
gether in  the  Expressions.  In  arguing  with  intidels,  or  with 
the  weak  in  faith,  it  is  a  part  of  religious  Prudence,  no  less 
than  of  religious  Morality,  to  avoid  whatever  looks  like  an 
evasion.  To  retain  the  literal  sense,  wherever  the  harmony 
of  Scripture  permits,  and  reason  does  not  forbid,  is  ever  the 
honester,  and  nine  times  in  ten,  the  more  rational  and  preg- 
nant interpretation. 

Of  the  Figures  of  Speech  in  the  sacred  Volume,  that  are 
only  Figures  of  Speech,  the  one  of  most  frequent  occurrence 
is  that  which  describes  an  effect  by  the  name  of  its  most  usual 
and  best  known  cause  :  the  passages,  for  instance,  in  which 
Grief,  Fury,  Repentance,  &c.,  are  attributed  to  the  Deity. 
But  these  are  far  enough  from  justifying  the  (I  had  almost 
said  dishonest )  fashion  of  metaphorical  Glosses,  in  as  well  as 
out  of  the  Church  ;  and  which  our  fashionable  Divines  have 
carried  to  such  an  extent,  as,  in  the  doctrinal  part  of  their 
Creed,  to  leave  little  else  but  Metaphors.  But  the  Reader 
who  wishes  to  find  this  latter  subject,  and  that  of  the  Apho- 
rism, treated  more  at  large,  is  referred  to  Southey's  Omniana, 
Vol.  II,  p.  7—12.  and  to  the  Note  in  p.  62—67.  of  the  Edi- 
tor's second  Lay-Sermon [33]. 

APHORISM     XV,  L,  A.VDED. 

THE    CHRISTIAN    NO    STOIC. 

Seek  not  altogether  to  dry  up  the  stream  of  Sorrow,  but  to 
bound  it,  and  keep  it  within  its  banks.  Religion  doth  not  des- 
troy the  life  of  nature,  but  adds  to  it  a  life  more  excellent  ; 
yea,  it  doth  not  only  permit,  but  requires  some  feeling  of  af- 
flictions. Instead  of  patience,  there  is  in  some  men  an  affect- 
ed pride  of  spirit  suitable  only  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Stoics  as 
it  is  usually  taken.  They  strive  not  to  feel  at  all  the  afflic- 
tions that  are  on  them  ;  but  where  there  is  no  feeling  at  all^ 
there  can  be  no  patience. 

8 


58  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Of  the  sects  of  ancient  philosophy  the  Stoic  is,  doubtless, 
the  nearest  to  Christianity.  Yet  even  to  this  Christianity  is 
fundamentally  opposite.  For  the  Stoic  attaches  the  highest 
honour  (or  rather  attaches  honour  solely)  to  the  person  that 
acts  virtuously  in  spite  of  his  feelings,  or  who  has  raised  him- 
self above  the  conflict  by  their  extinction  ;  while  Christianity 
instructs  us  to  place  small  reliance  on  a  Virtue  that  does  not 
begin  by  bringing  the  Feelings  to  a  conformity  with  the  Com- 
mands of  the  Conscience,  Its  especial  aim,  its  characteristic 
operation,  is  to  moralize  the  affections.  The  Feelings,  that 
oppose  a  right  act,  must  be  wrong  Feelings.  The  act^  indeed, 
whatever  the  Agent's  feelings  might  be,  Christianity  would 
command  :  and  under  certain  circumstances  would  both  com- 
mand and  commend  it,— commend  it,  as  a  healthful  symp- 
tom in  a  sick  Patient ;  and  command  it,  as  one  of  the  ways 
and  means  of  changing  the  Feelings,  or  displacing  them  by 
calling  up  the  opposite. 

APHORISM    XVI.  LEIGHTON. 

As  excessive  eating  or  drinking  both  makes  the  body  sickly 
and  lazy,  fit  for  nothing  but  sleep,  and  besots  the  mind,  as  it 
clogs  up  with  crudities  the  way  through  which  the  spirit  should 
pass[34],  bemiring  them,  and  making  them  move  heavily,  as  a 
coach  in  a  deep  way ;  thus  doth  all  immoderate  use  of  the 
world  and  its  delight  wrong  the  soul  in  its  spiritual  condition, 
makes  it  sickly  and  feeble,  full  of  spiritual  distempers  and  in- 
activity, benumbs  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  and  fills  the  soul 
with  sleepy  vapours,  makes  it  grow  secure  and  heavy  in  spirit- 
ual exercises,  and  obstructs  the  way  and  motion  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  in  the  Soul.  Therefore,  if  you  would  be  spiritual, 
healthful,  and  vigorous,  and  enjoy  much  of  the  consolations  of 
Heaven,  be  sparing  and  sober  in  those  of  the  earth,  and  what 
you  abate  of  the  one,  shall  be  certainly  made  up  in  the  other. 

APHORISM    XVII  L.  AND  ED. 

INCONSISTENCY. 

It  is  a  most  unseemly  and  unpleasant  thing,  to  see  a  man's 
life  full  of  ups  and  downs,  one  step  like  a  Christian,  and  ano- 


■■-.A 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  59 

ther  like  a  worldling ;  it   cannot  choose  but  both   pain  himself 
and  mar  the  edification  of  others. 

The  same  sentiment,  only  with  a  special  application  to  the 
maxims  and  measures  of  our  Cabinet  and  Statesmen,  had  been 
finely  expressed  by  a  sage  Poet  of  the  preceding  Generation, 
in  lines  which  no  Generation  will  find  inapplicable  or  super- 
annuated. 

God  and  the  World  we  worship  both  together, 

Draw  not  our  Laws  to  Him,  but  His  to  ours ; 
Untrue  to  both,  so  prosperous  in  neither, 

The  imperfect  Will  brings  forth  but  barren  Flowers ! 
Unwise  as  all  distracted  Interests  be, 
Strangers  to  God,  Fools  in  Humanity  : 
Too  good  for  great  things,  and  too  great  for  good. 
While  still,  "  1  dare  not"  waits  upon  "  I  wou'd." 

APHORISM    XVII.      CONTINUED.  LEIGHTON. 

THE    ORDINARY    MOTIVE    TO     INCONSISTENCY. 

What  though  the  polite  man  count  thy  fashion  a  little  odd 
and  too  precise,  it  is  because  he  knows  nothing  above  that  mo- 
del of  goodness  which  he  hath  set  himself,  and  therefore  ap- 
proves of  nothing  beyond  it :  he  knows  not  God,  and  there- 
fore doth  not  discern  and  esteem  what  is  most  like  Him. 
When  courtiers  come  down  into  the  country,  the  common 
home-bred  people  possibly  think  their  habit  strange  ;  but  they 
care  not  for  that,  it  is  the  fashion  at  court.  What  need,  then, 
that  Christians  should  be  so  tender-foreheaded,  as  to  be  put 
out  of  countenance  because  the  world  looks  on  holiness  as  a 
singularity  ?  It  is  the  only  fashion  in  the  highest  court,  yea, 
of  the  King  of  Kings  himself. 

APHORISM  XVIII.  LEIGHTON. 

SUPERFICIAL     RECONCILIATIONS,     AND    THE    SELF      DECEIT     IN 

FORGIVING. 

When,  after    variances,  men  are  brought  to    an  agreement, 


60 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


they  are  much  subject  to  this,  rather  to  cover  their  remaining 
malices  with  superficial  verbal  forgiveness,  than  to  dislodge 
them,  and  free  the  heart  of  them.  This  is  a  poor  self-deceit. 
As  the  philosopher  said  to  him,  who  being  ashamed  that  he  was 
espied  by  him  in  a  tavern  in  the  outer  room,  withdrew  him- 
self to  the  inner,  he  called  after  him,  '  That  is  not  the  way 
'out ;  the  more  you  go  that  way,  you  will  be  the  further  in  !' 
So  when  hatreds  are  upon  admonition  not  thrown  out,  but  re- 
tire inward  to  hide  themselves,  they  grow  deeper  and  strong- 
er than  before  ;  and  those  constrained  semblances  of  recon- 
cilement are  but  a  false  healing,  do  but  skin  the  wound  over, 
and  therefore  it  usually  breaks  forth  worse  again. 

APHORISM   XIX.  LEiaHTo^. 

OF  THE  WORTH  AND  THE  DUTIES  OF  THE  PREACHER. 

The  stream  of  custom  and  our  profession  bring  us  to  the 
Preaching  of  the  Word,  and  we  sit  out  our  hour  under  the  sound  ; 
but  how  few  consider  and  prize  it  as  the  great  ordinance  of 
God  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  the  beginner  and  the  sustainer 
of  the  Divine  life  of  grace  within  us  !  And  certainly,  until 
we  have  these  thoughts  of  it,  and  seek  to  feel  it  thus  ourselves, 
although  we  hear  it  most  frequently,  and  let  slip  no  occasion, 
yea,  hear  it  with  attention  and  some  present  delight,  yet  still 
we  miss  the  right  use  of  it,  and  turn  it  from  its  true  end,  while 
we  take  it  not  as  that  ingrafted  ivord  which  is  able  to  save  our 
souls,  James  i.  21. 

Thus  ought  they  who  preach  to  speak  the  word  ;  to  endeav- 
our their  utmost  to  accommodate  it  to  this  end,  that  sinners 
may  be  converted,  begotten  again,  and  believers  nourished 
and  strengthened  in  their  spiritual  life  ;  to  regard  no  lower  end, 
but  aim  steadily  at  that  mark.  Their  hearts  and  tongues  ought 
to  be  set  on  fire  with  holy  zeal  for  God  and  love  to  souls, 
kindled  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  came  down  on  the  apostles  in 
the  shape  of  fiery  tongues. 

And  those  that  hear,  should  remember  this  as  the  end  of 
their  hearing,  that  tlicy  may  receive  spiritual  life  and  strengtii 
by  the  w>i;l.      I*^)r  l]inui.:;li  i(  s<'onis  ;i  poor  <lrspi('nl)l(>  business. 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  61 

that  a  frail  sinful  man  like  yourselves  should  speak  a  few 
words  in  your  hearing,  yet,  look  upon  it  as  the  way  wherein 
God  communicates  happiness  to  those  who  believe,  and  works 
that  believing  unto  happiness,  alters  the  whole  frame  of  the 
soul,  and  makes  a  new  creation,  as  it  begets  it  again  to  the  in- 
heritance of  glory.  Consider  it  thus,  which  is  its  true  notion ; 
and  then,  what  can  be  so  precious  ? 

APHORISM    XX.  LEIGHTOJf. 

The  difference  is  great  in  our  natural  life,  in  some  persons 
especially  ;  that  they  who  in  infancy  were  so  feeble,  and  wrap- 
ped up  as  others  in  swaddling  clothes,  yet,  afterwards  come  to 
excel  in  wisdom  and  in  the  knowledge  of  sciences,  or  to  be 
commanders  of  great  armies,  or  to  be  kings  :  but  the  distance 
is  far  greater  and  more  admirable,  betwixt  the  small  begin- 
nings of  grace,  and  our  after  perfection,  that  fulness  of  knowl- 
edge that  we  look  for,  and  that  crown  of  immortality  which 
all  they  are  born   to,  who  are  born    of  God. 

But  as  in  the  faces  or  actions  of  some  children,  characters 
and  presages  of  their  after  greatness  have  appeared  ( as  a  sin- 
gular beauty  in  Moses's  face,  as  they  write  of  him,  and  as  Cy- 
rus was  made  king  among  the  shepherd's  children  with  whom 
he  was  brought  up,  &c. )  so  also,  certainly,  in  these  children 
of  God,  there  be  some  characters  and  evidences  that  they  are 
born  for  Heaven  by  their  new  birth.  That  holiness  and  meek- 
ness, that  patience  and  faith  Avhich  shine  in  the  actions  and 
sufferings  of  the  saints,  are  characters  of  their  Father's  image, 
and  show  their  high  original,  and  foretel  their  glory  to  come  ; 
such  a  glory  as  doth  not  only  surpass  the  world's  thoughts,  but 
the  thoughts  of  the  children  of  God  themselves.  1.  John 
iii.  2. 

COMMENT. 

ON    AN    INTERMEDIATE  STATE    OR  STATE  OF  TRANSITION    FROM 

MORALITY    TO    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION. 

This  Aphorism  would,  it  moy  seem,  have  been  placed  more 
fitly  in  the  Chnjitcr  follow  inu;.     In  piMcinu;  it  here,  I  have  been 


©3  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

determined    by  the    following    Convictions:   1.  Every  State, 
and  consequently  that  which  we  have  described  as  the  State 
of  Religious  Morality,  which  is  not  progressive,  is  dead  or  re- 
trogade.     2.  As  a  pledge  of  this  progression,  or,  at  least,    as 
the  form  in   which  the  propulsive  tendency  shows  itself,  there 
are  certain  Hopes,  Aspirations,  Yearnings,  that,  with  more  or 
less  of  consciousness,  rise  and  stir  in  the  Heart  of  true  moral- 
ity as  naturally  as  the  Sap  in  the  full-formed  stem  of  a  Rose 
flows  towards  the  Bud,  within  which  the  flower  is  maturing. 
3.    No  one,  whose  own  experience  authorizes  him  to  confirm 
the  truth   of  this  statement,  can  have    been  conversant  with 
the  Volumes  of  Religious    Biography,  can   have  perused  (for 
instance)    the    Lives  of  Cranmer,  Ridley,   Latimer,  Wishart, 
Sir  Thomas  More,  Bernard  Gilpin,  Bishop  Bedel,  or  of  Egede, 
Swartz,  and  the  Missionaries  of  the  Frozen  world,  without  an 
occasional  conviction,  that  these  men  lived  under  extraordina- 
ry influences,  that  in  each  instance  and  in  all  ages  of  the  Chris- 
tian sera  bear  the  same  characters,  and  both  in  the  accompa- 
niments and  the  results  evidently  refer  to  a  common   origin. 
And  what  can  this  be  ?  is  the  Question  that  must  needs  force 
itself  on   the  mind  in  the  first   moment  of  reflection  on  a  phe- 
'nomenon   so    interesting  and   apparently  so  anomalous.     The 
answer  is  as  necessarily  contained  in  one  or  the  other  of  two 
assumptions.     These  influences  are  either  the  Product  of  De- 
lusion   (Insania    Amabilis,    and   the    Re-action   of  disordered 
Nerves),  or   they  argue  the  existence  of  a  Relation  to  some 
real   Agency,   distinct  from  Avhat   is  experienced  or  acknowl- 
edged by  the  world  at  large,    for  which  as  not  merely  natural 
on  the  one  hand,  yet  not  assumed  to  be  'miraculous[^b'\  on  the 
other,  we  have  no  apter  name  than  spiritual.     Now  if  neither 
analogy  justifies  nor  the  moral  feelings  permit  the  former    as- 
sumption ;  and   we  decide  therefore  in  favour  of  the  Reality 
of  a  State  other  and  higher  than  the  mere  Moral  Man,  whose 
Religion [36]   consists   in  Morality,  has   attained  under   these 
convictions ;  can  the  existence  of  a  transitional   state  appear 
other  than  probable  ?  or  that   these   very   Convictions,  when 
accompanied  by  correspondent  dispositions  and  stirrings  of  the 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  63 

Heart,  are  among  the  Marks  and  Indications  of  such  a  state  ? 
And  thinking  it  not  unlikely  that  among  the  Readers  of  this 
Volume,  there  may  be  found  some  Individuals,  whose  inward 
State,  though  disquieted  by  Doubts  and  oftener  still  perhaps 
by  blank  Misgivings,  may,  nevertheless,  betoken  the  com- 
mencement of  a  Transition  from  a  not  irreligious  Morality  to 
a  Spiritual  Religion,  with  a  view  to  their  interests  I  placed 
this  Aphorism  under  the  present  Head. 

APHORISM    XXI.  LEIGHTOX. 

The  most  approved  teachers  of  wisdom,  in  a  human  way, 
have  required  of  their  scholars,  that  to  the  end  their  minds 
might  be  capable  of  it,  they  should  be  purified  from  vice  and 
wickedness.  And  it  was  Socrates' s  custom,  when  any  one 
asked  him  a  question,  seeking  to  be  informed  by  him,  before 
he  would  answer  them,  he  asked  them  concerning  their  own 
qualities  and  course  of  life. 

APHORISM    XXII.  L.  AND  ED. 

KNOWLEDGE    NOT    THE    ULTIMATE    END    OF     RELIGIOUS    PUR-^ 

SUITS. 

The  Hearing  and  Reading  of  the  Word,  under  which  I 
comprize  theological  studies  generally,  are  alike  defective 
when  pursued  without  increase  of  Knowledge,  and  when  pur- 
sued chiefly  /or  increase  of  Knowledge.  To  seek  no  more 
than  a  present  delight,  that  evanisheth  with  the  sound  of  the 
words  that  die  in  the  air,  is  not  to  desire  the  word  as  meat, 
but  as  music,  as  God  tells  the  prophet  Ezekiel  of  his  people, 
Ezek,  xxxiii-  32.  And  lo,  thou  art  unto  them  as  a  very  lovely 
song  of  one  that  hath  a  pleasant  voice^  and  can  j)lay  well  ujion 
an  instrument ;  for  they  hear  thy  ivords^  and  they  do  them 
not.  To  desire  the  word  for  the  increase  of  knowledge,  al- 
though this  is  necessary  and  commendable,  and,  being  rightly 
qualified,  is  a  part  of  spiritual  accretion,  yet,  take  it  as  going 
no  further,  it  is  not  the  true  end  of  the  word.  Nor  is  the 
venting  of  that  know^ledge  in  speech  and  frequent  discourse 
of  the  word  and  the  divine  truths  that  are  in  it ;  which,  where 


64  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

it  is  governed  with  Christian  prudence,  is  not  to  be  despised 
but  commended  ;  yet,  certainly,  the  highest  knowledge,  and 
the  most  frequent  and  skilful  speaking  of  the  word,  severed 
from  the  growth  here  mentioned,  misses  the  true  end  of  the 
word.  If  any  one's  head  or  tongue  should  grow  apace,  and 
all  the  rest  stand  at  a  stay,  it  would  certainly  make  him  a  mon- 
ster ;  and  they  are  no  other,  who  are  knowing  and  discour- 
sing Christians,  and  grow  daily  in  that  respect,  but  not  at  all 
in  holiness  of  heart  and  life,  which  is  the  proper  growth  of  the 
children  of  God.  Apposite  to  their  case  is  Epictetus's  com- 
parison of  the  sheep  ;  they  return  not  what  they  eat  in  grass, 
but  in  wool. 

APHORISM    XXin.  LEIGHTON. 

THE    SUM    or    CHURCH    HISTORY. 

In  times  of  peace,  the  Church  may  dilate  more,  and  build 
as  it  were  into  breadth,  but  in  times  of  trouble,  it  arises  more 
in  height ;  it  is  then  built  upwards  :  as  in  cities  where  men 
are  straitened,  they  build  usually  higher  than  in  the  country. 

APHORISM    XXIV.  L.  AND  ED. 

WORTHY    TO    BE    FRAMED    AND    HUNG   UP    IN  THE    LIBRARY   OF 
EVERY     THEOLOGICAL    STUDENT. 

Where  there  is  a  great  deal  of  smoke,  and  no  clear  flame, 
it  argues  much  moisture  in  the  matter,  yet  it  witnesseth  cer- 
tainly that  there  is  fire  there  ;  and  therefore  dubious  question- 
ing is  a  much  better  evidence,  than  that  senseless  deadness 
which  most  take  for  believing.  Men  that  know  nothing  in 
sciences,  have  no  doubts.  He  never  truly  believed,  who  was 
not  made  first  sensible  and  convinced  of  unbelief. 

Never  be  afraid  to  doubt,  if  only  you  have  the  disposition 
to  believe,  and  doubt  in  order  that  you  may  end  in  believing 
the  Truth.  I  will  venture  to  add  in  my  own  name  and  from 
my  own  conviction  the  following  : 

APHORISM  XXV.  EDITOR, 

He,  who  boglns  by  loving   Christianity  better  than  Truth,. 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS     APHORISMS.  65 

will  proceed  by    loving  his  own  Sect    or   Church  better  than 
Christianity,  and  end  in  loving  himself  better  than  all. 

APHORISM   XXVI.  L.  AND  ED. 

THE  ABSENCE  OF  DISPUTES,  AND  A  GENERAL  AVERSION  TO 
RELIGIOUS  CONTROVERSIES,  NO  PROOF  OF  TRUE  UNANIM- 
ITY. 

The  boasted  Peaceableness  about  questions  of  Faith  too 
often  proceeds  from  a  superficial  Temper,  and  not  seldom  from 
a  supercilious  Disdain  of  whatever  has  no  marketable  use  or 
value,  and  from  indifference  to  Religion  itself.  Toleration  is 
an  Herb  of  spontaneous  growth  in  the  soil  of  Indifference  ; 
but  the  Weed  has  none  of  the  Virtues  of  the  Medicinal  Plant, 
reared  by  Humility  in  the  Garden  of  Zeal.  Those,  who  re- 
gard Religions  as  matters  of  Taste,  may  consistently  include 
all  religious  differences  in  the  old  Adage,  De  gustibus  non  est 
disputandum.  And  many  there  be  among  these  of  Gallio's 
temper,  who  care  for  none  of  these  things^  and  who  account 
all  questions  in  religion,  as  he  did,  but  matter  of  words  and 
names.  And  by  this  all  religions  may  agree  together.  But 
that  were  not  a  natural  union  produced  by  the  active  heat  of 
the  spirit,  but  a  confusion  rather,  arising  from  the  want  of  it ; 
not  a  knitting  together,  but  a  freezing  together,  as  cold  con- 
gregates all  bodies,  how  heterogeneous  soever,  sticks,  stones, 
and  water;  but  heat  makes  first  a  separation  of  different 
things,  and  then  unites  those  that  are  of  the  same  nature. 

Much  of  our  common  union  of  minds,  I  fear,  proceeds  from 
no  other  than  the  aforementioned  causes,  want  of  knowledge, 
and  want  of  affection  to  religion.  You  that  boast  you  live 
conformably  to  the  appointments  of  the  Church,  and  that  no 
one  hears  of  your  noise,  we  may  thank  the  ignorance  of  your 
minds  for  that  kind  of  quietness. 

The  preceding  Extract  is  particularly  entitled  to  our  serious 
reflections,  as  in  a  tenfold  degree  more  applicable  to  the  pre- 
sent times  than  to  the  age  in  which  it  was  written.  We  all 
know,  that  Lovers  are  apt  to  take  offence  and  wrangle  on  oc- 
casions that  perhaps  are  but  trifles,  and  which  assuredly  would 

9 


66 


AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 


appear  such  to  those  who  regard  Love  itself  as  Folly.  These 
Quarrels  may,  indeed,  be  no  proof  of  Wisdom :  but  still,  in 
the  imperfect  state  of  our  Nature  the  entire  absence  of  the 
same,  and  this  too  on  far  more  serious  provocations,  would 
excite  a  strong  suspicion  of  a  comparative  indifference  in  the 
Parties  who  can  love  so  coolly  where  they  profess  to  love  so 
well.  I  shall  believe  our  present  religious  Tolerancy  to  pro- 
ceed from  the  abundance  of  our  charity  and  good  sense,  when 
I  see  proofs  that  we  are  equally  cool  and  forbearing  as  Liti- 
gants and  Political  Partizans. 

APHORISM  XXVIL  '    LEiGHToif, 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  WORLDLY  VIEWS  (OR  WHAT  ARE  CALLED 
A  man's  prospects  in  life),  the  bane  of  the  CHRISTIAN 
MINISTRY. 

It  is  a  base,  poor  thing  for  a  man  to  seek  himself :  far  be- 
low that  royal  dignity  that  is  here  put  upon  Christians,  and 
that  priesthood  joined  with  it.  Under  the  Law,  those  who 
were  squint-eyed  were  incapable  of  the  priesthood  :  truly, 
this  squinting  toward  our  own  interest,  the  looking  aside  to 
that,  in  God's  affairs  especially,  so  deforms  the  face  of  the  soul, 
that  it  makes  it  altogether  unworthy  the  honour  of  this  spirit- 
ual priesthood.  Oh  !  this  is  a  large  task,  an  infinite  task.  The 
several  creatures  bear  their  part  in  this;  the  sun  says  some- 
what, and  moon  and  stars,  yea,  the  lowest  have  some  share  in 
it ;  the  very  plants  and  herbs  of  the  field  speak  of  God ;  and 
yet,  the  very  highest  and  best,  yea  all  of  them  together,  the 
whole  concert  of  Heaven  and  earth,  cannot  show  forth  all  His 
praise  to  the  full.  No,  it  is  but  apart,  the  smallest  part  of  that 
glory,  which  they  can  reach* 

APHORISM   XXVin.  LEIGHTON. 

despise  none  :  despair  of  none. 

The  Jews  would  not  willingly  tread  upon  the  smallest  piece 
of  paper  in  their  way,  but  took  it  up ;  for  possibly,  said  they, 
the  name   of  God  may  be  on  it.     Though  there   was  a  little 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  67 

superstition  in  this,  yet  truly  there  is  nothing  but  good  reli- 
gion in  it,  if  we  apply  it  to  men.  Trample  not  on  any  ;  there 
may  be  some  work  of  grace  there,  that  thou  knowest  not  of. 
The  name  of  God  may  be  written  upon  that  soul  thou  tread- 
est  on  ;  it  may  be  a  soul  that  Christ  thought  so  much  of,  as  to 
give  His  precious  blood  for  it ;  therefore  despise  it  not. 

APHORISM  XXIX.  LEiGHTox 

MEN  OF  LEAST  MERIT  MOST  APT  TO  BE  CONTEMPTUOUS,  BE- 
CAUSE MOST  IGNORANT  AND  MOST  OVERWEENING  OF  THEM- 
SELVES. 

Too  many  take  the  ready  course  to  deceive  themselves ;  for 
they  look  with  both  eyes  on  the  failings  and  defects  of  others, 
and  scarcely  give  their  good  qualities  half  an  eye,  while,  on 
the  contrary  in  themselves,  they  study  to  the  full  their  own 
advantages,  and  their  weaknesses  and  defects,  (as  one  says), 
they  skip  over,  as  children  do  their  hard  words  in  their  lesson, 
that  are  troublesome  to  read  ;  and  making  this  uneven  parallel 
what  wonder  if  the  Result  be  a  gross  mistake  of  themselves  ! 

APHORISM  XXX.  LEiGHTo.v. 

VANITY   MAY   STRUT    IN    RAGS,    AND  HUMILITY  BE  ARRAYED    IN 
PURPLE  AND  FINE  LINEN. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  there  may  be  in  some  an  aft'ected 
pride  in  the  meanness  of  apparel,  and  in  others,  under  either 
neat  or  rich  attire,  a  very  humble  unaffected  mind  :  using  it 
upon  some  of  the  aforementioned  engagements,  or  such  like, 
and  yet,  the  heart  not  at  all  upon  it.  Magnus  qui  fictilihus 
utitur  tanquam  argento,  nee  ill  minor  qui  argento  tanquam 
fictilihus^  says  Seneca :  Great  is  he  who  enjoys  his  earthen- 
ware as  if  it  were  plate,  and  not  less  great  is  the  man  to  whom 
all  his  plate  is  no  more  than  earthenware. 

APHORISM  XXXL  l.  a>d  ed. 

OF  DETRACTION  AMONG  RELIGIOUS  PROFESSORS. 

They  who  have  attained  to  a  self-pleasing  pitch  of  ei\'ility 
or  formal  religion,  have  usually  that  point  of  presumption  with 


68  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

it,  that  they  make  their  own  size  the  model  and  rule  to  exam- 
ine all  by.  What  is  below  it,  they  condemn  indeed  as  pro- 
fane ;  but  what  is  beyond  it,  they  account  needless  and  affected 
preciseness :  and  therefore  are  as  ready  as  others  to  let  fly 
invectives  or  bitter  taunts  against  it,  which  are  the  keen  and 
poisoned  shafts  of  the  tongue,  and  a  persecution  that  shall  be 
called  to  a  strict  account. 

The  slanders,  perchance,  may  not  be  altogether  forged  or 
untrue  :  they  may  be  the  implements,  not  the  inventions  of 
Malice.  But  they  do  not  on  this  account  escape  the  guilt  of 
Detraction.  Rather,  it  is  characteristic  of  the  evil  spirit  in 
question,  to  work  by  the  advantage  of  real  faults  ;  but  these 
stretched  and  aggravated  to  the  utmost.  It  is  not  expressi- 
ble HOW  DEEP  A  WOUND  A  TONGUE  SHARPENED  TO  THIS  WORK 
WILL.  GIVE,  WITH  NO  NOISE  AND  A    VERY  LITTLE   WORD.        This 

is  the  true  white  gunpowder,  which  the  dreaming  Projectors  of 
silent  Mischiefs  and  insensible  Poisons  sought  for  in  the  Lab- 
oratories of  Art  and  Nature,  in  a  World  of  Good  ;  but  which 
was  to  be  found,  in  its  most  destructive  form,  in  "  the  World 
of  Evil,  the  Tongue." 

APHORISM   XXXII.  LEIGHTON. 

THE    REMEDY. 

All  true  remedy  must  begin  at  the  heart ;  otherwise  it  will 
be  but  a  mountebank  cure,  a  false  imagined  conquest.  The 
weights  and  wheels  are  there^  and  the  clock  strikes  according 
to  their  motion.  Even  he  that  speaks  contrary  to  what  is 
within  him,  guilefully  contrary  to  his  inward  conviction  and 
knowledge,  yet  speaks  conformably  to  what  is  within  him  in 
the  temper  and  frame  of  his  heart,  which  is  double,  a  heart 
and  a  hearty  as  the  Psalmist  hath  it,  Psal.  xii.  2. 

APHORISM   XXXIII.  L.  AND  ED. 

It  is  an  argument  of  a  candid  ingenuous  mind,  to  delight  in 
the  good  name  and  commendation  of  others  ;  to  pass  by  their 
defects,  and  take  notice  of  their  virtues ;  and  to  speak  and 
hear  of  those  willingly,  and  not  endure  cither  to  speak  or  hear 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  69 

of  the  other  ;  for  in  this  indeed  you  may  be  little  less  guilty 
than  the  evil  speaker,  in  taking  pleasure  in  it,  though  you 
speak  it  not.  He  that  willingly  drinks  in  tales  and  calumnies, 
will,  from  the  delight  he  hath  in  evil  hearing,  slide  insensibly 
into  the  humor  of  evil  speaking.  It  is  strange  hov/  most  per- 
sons dispense  with  themselves  in  this  point,  and  that  in  scarce- 
ly any  societies  shall  we  find  a  hatred  of  this  ill,  but  rather 
some  tokens  of  taking  pleasure  in  it ;  and  until  a  Christian  sets 
himself  to  an  inward  watchfulness  over  his  heart,  not  suffering 
in  it  any  thought  that  is  uncharitable,  or  vain  self-esteem,  up- 
on the  sight  of  others'  frailties,  he  will  still  be  subject  to 
somewhat  of  this,  in  the  tongue  or  ear  at  least.  So,  then,  as 
for  the  evil  of  guile  in  the  tongue,  a  sincere  heart,  truth  in 
the  inward  parfs^  powerfully  redresses  it ;  therefore  it  is  ex- 
pressed, Psal.  XV.  2.  That  speaketh  the  truth  from  his  heart ; 
thence  it  flows.  Seek  much  after  this,  to  speak  nothing  v^'ith 
God,  nor  men,  but  what  is  the  sense  of  a  single  unfeigned 
heart.  O  sweet  truth  !  excellent  but  rare  sincerity  !  he  that 
loves  that  truth  within^  and  who  is  himself  at  once  the  truth 
and  THE  LIFE,  He  alone  can  work  it  there  !  Seek  it  of  him. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  Roman  Dignity  and  Sobriety,  that 
in  the  Latin  to  favour  the  tongue  ( favere  linguae )  means,  to 
he  silent.  We  say.  Hold  your  tongue  !  as  if  it  were  an  in- 
juuction,  that  could  not  be  carried  into  effect  but  by  manual 
force,  or  the  pincers  of  the  Forefinger  and  Thumb  !  And  ve- 
rily— I  blush  to  say  it — it  is  not  Women  and  Frenchmen  only 
that  would  rather  have  their  tongues  bitten  than  bitted,  and 
feel  their  souls  in  a  strait-waistcoat,  when  they  are  obliged  to 
remain  silent. 

APHORISM  XXXIV,  leighton 

ON  THE  PASSION  FOR    NEW  AND  STRIKING  THOUGHTS. 

In  conversation  seek  not  so  much  either  to  vent  thy  knowl- 
edge, or  to  increase  it,  as  to  know  more  spiritually  and  effec- 
tually what  thou  dost  know.  And  in  this  w^ay  those  mean 
despised  truths,  that  every  one  thinks  he  is  sufficiently  seen 
in,  will  have  a   new  sweetness  and  use  in   them,  which    thou 


70  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

didst  not  so  well  perceive  before  (for  these  flowers  cannot  be 
sucked  dry),  and  in  this  humble  sincere  way  thou  shalt  grow 
in  grace  and  in  knowledge  too. 

APHORISM  XXXV.  l.  and  ed. 

THE  RADICAL  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  GOOD  MAN    AND    THE 

VICIOUS    MAN. 

The  godly  man  hates  the  evil  he  possibly  by  temptation 
hath  been  drawn  to  do,  and  loves  the  good  he  is  frustrated  of, 
and,  having  intended,  hath  not  attained  to  do.  The  sinner, 
who  hath  his  denomination  from  sin  as  his  course,  hates  the 
good  which  sometimes  he  is  forced  to  do,  and  loves  that  sin 
which  many  times  he  does  not,  either  wanting  occasion  and 
means,  so  that  he  cannot  do  it,  or  through  the  check  of  an  en- 
lightened conscience  possibly  dares  not  do  ;  and  though  so 
bound  up  from  the  act,  as  a  dog  in  a  chain,  yet  the  habit,  the 
natural  inclination  and  desire  in  him,  is  still  the  same,  the 
strength  of  his  affection  is  carried  to  sin.  So  in  the  weakest 
sincere  Christian,  there  is  that  predominant  sincerity  and  de- 
sire of  holy  walking,  according  to  which  he  is  called  a  right- 
eous person^  the  Lord  is  pleased  to  give  him  that  name,  and 
account  him  so,  being  upright  in  heart,  though  often  failing. 

Leighton  adds,  "There  is  a  Righteousness  of  a  higher 
"  strain."  I  do  not  ask  the  Reader's  full  assent  to  this  posi- 
tion :  I  do  not  suppose  him  as  yet  prepared  to  yield  it.  But 
thus  much  he  will  readily  admit,  that  here,  if  any  where,  we 
are  to  seek  the  fine  Line  which,  like  stripes  of  Light  in  Light, 
distinguishes,  not  divides,  the  summit  of  religious  Morality 
from  Spiritual  Religion. 

"  A  Righteousness  (Leighton  continues),  that  is  not  in  him, 
but  upon  him.  He  is  clothed  with  it."  This,  Reader  !  is  the 
controverted  Doctrine,  so  warmly  asserted  and  so  bitterly  de- 
cried under  the  name  of  "  imputed  righteousness."  Our 
learned  Archbishop,  you  see,  adopts  it ;  and  it  is  on  this  ac- 
count principally,  that  by  many  of  our  leading  Churchmen  his 
Orthodoxy  has  been  more  than  questioned,  and  his  name  put 
in  the  List  of  proscribed  Divnies,  as  a  Calvinist.     That  Leigh- 


3IORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  71 

ton  attached  a  definite  sense  to  the  words  above  quoted,  it 
would  be  uncandid  to  doubt  ;  and  the  general  Spirit  of  his 
Writings  leads  me  to  presume  that  it  was  compatible  with  the 
eternal  distinction  between  Things  and  Pei^sons^  and  there- 
fore opposed  to  modern  Calvinism.  But  what  it  was,  I  have 
not  (I  own)  been  able  to  discover.  The  sense,  however,  in 
which  I  think  he  might  have  received  this  doctrine,  and  in 
which  I  avow  myself  a  believer  in  it,  I  shall  have  an  opportu- 
nity of  showing  in  another  place.  My  present  Object  is  to 
open  out  the  Road  by  the  removal  of  prejudices,  so  far  at 
least  as  to  throw  some  disturbing  Doubts  on  the  secure  Ta- 
king-for-granted^  that  the  peculiar  Tenets  of  the  Christian 
Faith  asserted  in  the  Articles  and  Homilies  of  our  National 
Church  are  in  contradiction  to  the  Common  Sense  of  Man- 
kind. And  with  this  view,  (and  not  in  the  arrogant  expecta- 
tion or  wish,  that  a  mere  ipse  dixit  should  be  received  for  ar- 
gument) I  here  avow  my  conviction,  that  the  doctrine  of  im- 
puted Righteousness,  rightly  and  scripturally  interpreted,  is 
so  far  from  being  either  irrational  or  immoral^  that  Reason 
itself  prescribes  the  idea  in  order  to  give  a  meaning  and  an 
ultimate  Object  to  Morality  ;  and  that  the  Moral  Law  in  the 
Conscience  demands  its  reception  in  order  to  give  reality  and 
substantive  existence  to  the  idea   presented  by  the    Reason. 

APHORISM  XXXVI.  leighton. 

Your  blessedness  is  not, — no,  believe  it,  it  is  not  where 
most  of  you  seek  it,  in  things  below  you.  How  can  that  be  ^ 
It  must  be  a  higher  good  to  make  you  happy. 

COMMENT. 

Every  rank  of  Creatures,  as  it  ascends  in  the  scale  of  Cre- 
ation, leaves  Death  behind  it,  or  under  it.  The  Metal  at  its 
height  of  Being  seems  a  mute  Prophecy  of  the  coming  Vege- 
tation, into  a  mimic  semblance  of  which  it  crystallizes.  The 
Blossom  and  Flower,  the  Acme  of  Vegetable  Life,  divides  in- 
to correspondent  Organs  with  reciprocal  functions,  and  by  in- 
stinctive motions  and  approximations  seems  impatient  of  that 


72  •      AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

fixture,  by  which  it  is  differenced  in  kind  from  the  flower-sha- 
ped Psyche,  that  flutters  with  free  wing  above  it.     And  won- 
derfully   in  the  insect  reahn  doth  the  IrritabiUty,  the   proper 
seat  of  Instinct,   while  yet  the  nascent   Sensibility  is  subordi- 
nated thereto — most   wonderfully,  I   say,  doth  the   muscular 
Life  in   the  Insect,  and  the  musculo-arterial  in  the  Bird,  imi- 
tate and  typically   rehearse  the  adaptive  Understanding,   yea 
and  the  moral  affections  and   charities,  of  Man.     Let  us  carry 
ourselves  back,  in  spirit,  to  the  mysterious   Week,  the   teem- 
ing Work-days  of  the    Creator  :  as  they  rose  in  vision  before 
the  eye  of  the  inspired  Historian  of  "  the  Generations  of  the 
Heaven  and  the   Earth,  in  the  days  that  the  Lord  God  made 
the    Earth  and  the  Heavens."     And  who    that  hath  watch- 
ed their  ways  with  an  understanding  heart,  could  contemplate 
the  filial  and   loyal  Bee  ;  the  home-building,  wedded,  and  di- 
vorceless    Swallow ;  and  above    all  the  manifoldly  intelligent 
[37]  Ant   tribes,  with  their  Commonwealths  and  Confedera- 
cies, their  Warriors  and  Miners,  the  Husbandfolk,  that  fold  in 
their  tiny  flocks  on  the   hone}  ed  Leaf,  and  the  Virgin  Sisters 
v/ith  the   holy  Instincts  of  Maternal   Love,  detached  and  in 
selfless  purity — and  not  say  to  himself.  Behold  the  Shadow  of 
approaching  Humanity,  the    Sun  rising   from  behind,   in  the 
kindling   Morn   of  Creation  !     Thus  all  lower   Natures   And 
their  highest  Good  in  semblances  and  seekings  of  that  which 
is  higher  and  better.     All  things  strive  to  ascend,  and  ascend 
in  their  striving.     And    shall  man  alone  stoop  ?  Shall  his  pur- 
suits and  desires,  the  reflections  of  his  inward  life,  be  like  the 
reflected    Image  of  a  Tree  on  the  edge  of  a  Pool,  that  grows 
downward,  and  seeks  a  mock  heaven  in  the  unstable  clement 
beneath  it,  in  neighbourhood  with  the  slim   water-weeds  and 
oozy  bottom-grass  that  are  yet  better  than  itself  and  more  no- 
ble, in  as  far  as    Substances  that  appear  as  Shadows  are  pre- 
ferable to  Shadows  mistaken  for  Substance  !     No  !  it  must  be 
a  higher  good  to  make  you  happy.     While  you  labour  for  any 
thing  below  3^our  proper  Humanity,  you  seek  a  happy  Life  in 
the  region  of  Death.     W^ell  saith  the  moral  Poet — 

Unless  above  himself  he  can 
Erect  himself,  how  mean  a  thing  is  nian  I 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  73 

APHORISM  XXXVII.  leighto>-. 

There  is  an  imitation  of  men  that  is  impious  and  wicked, 
which  consists  in  taking  the  copy  of  their  sins.  Again,  there 
is  an  imitation  which  though  not  so  grossly  evil,  yet,  is  poor 
and  servile,  being  in  mean  things,  yea,  sometimes  descending 
to  imitate  the  very  imperfections  of  others,  as  fancying  some 
comeliness  in  them  ,  as  some  of  Basil's  scholars,  who  imitated 
his  slow  speaking,  which  he  had  a  little  in  the  extreme,  and 
could  not  help.  But  this  is  always  laudable,  and  worthy  of 
the  best  of  minds,  to  be  imitators  of  that  tvhich  is  good, 
wheresoever  they  find  it ;  for  that  stays  not  in  any  man's  per- 
son, as  the  ultimate  pattern,  but  rises  to  the  highest  grace, 
being  man's  nearest  likeness  to  God,  His  image  and  resem- 
blance, bearing  his  stamp  and  superscription,  and  belonging  pe- 
culiarly to  Him,  in  what  hand  soever  it  be  found,  as  carrying 
the  mark  of  no  other  owner  than  Him. 

APHORISM  XXXVIII.  leighton. 

Those  who  think  themselves  high-spirited,  and  will  bear 
least,  as  they  speak,  are  often,  even  by  that,  forced  to  bow 
most,  or  to  burst  under  it ;  while  humility  and  meekness  es- 
cape many  a  burden,  and  many  a  blow,  always  keeping  pace 
within,  and  often  without  too. 

APHORISM    XXXIX.  LEIGHTON. 

Our  condition  is  universally  exposed  to  fears  and  troubles, 
and  no  man  is  so  stupid  but  he  studies  and  projects  for  some 
fence  against  them,  some  bulwark  to  break  the  incursion  of 
evils,  and  so  to  bring  his  mind  to  some  ease,  ridding  it  of  the 
fear  of  them.  Thus,  men  seek  safety  in  the  greatness,  or 
multitude,  or  supposed  faithfulness  of  friends ;  they  seek  by 
any  means  to  be  strongly  underset  this  way,  to  have  many  and 
powerful,  and  trust-worthy  friends.  But  wiser  men,  perceiv- 
ing the  unsafety  and  vanity  of  these  and  all  external  things, 
have  cast  about  for  some  higher  course.  They  see  a  necessi- 
ty of  withdrawing  a  man  from  externals,  which  do  nothing  but 
mock  and  deceive    those  most  who  trust  most   to  them  ;  but 

10 


74  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

they  cannot  tell  whither  to  direct  him.  The  best  of  them 
bring  him  into  himself,  and  think  to  quiet  him  so,  but  the 
truth  is,  he  finds  as  little  to  support  him  there  ;  there  is  noth- 
ing truly  strong  enough  within  him,  to  hold  out  against  the 
many  sorrows  and  fears  which  still  from  without  do  assault 
him.  So  then,  though  it  is  well  done,  to  call  off  a  man  from 
outward  things,  as  moving  sands,  that  he  build  not  on  them, 
yet,  this  is  not  enough ;  for  hiSs  own  spirit  is  as  unsettled  a 
piece  as  is  in  all  the  world,  and  must  have  some  higher  strength 
than  its  own,  to  fortify  and  fix  it.  This  is  the  way  that  is  here 
taught.  Fear  not  their  fear,  but  sanctify  the  Lord  your  God 
in  your  hearts ;  and  if  you  can  attain  this  latter,  the  former 
will  follow  of  itself. 

APHORISM   XL.  LEIGHTON. 

WORLDLY    TROUBLES    IDOLS. 

The  too  ardent  Love  or  self-willed  Desire  of  Power,  or 
Wealth,  01  Credit  in  the  World,  is  (an  Apostle  has  assured  us) 
Idolatry.  Now  among  the  words  or  synonimes  for  Idols,  in 
the  Hebrew  Language,  there  is  one  that  in  its  primary  sense 
signifies  Troubles  (Tegirim),  other  two  that  signify  Terrors 
(Miphletzeth  and  Emim).  And  so  it  is  certainly.  All  our 
Idols  prove  so  to  us.  They  fill  us  with  nothing  but  anguish 
and  Troubles,  with  cares  and  fears,  that  are  good  for  nothing 
but  to  be  fit  punishments  of  the  Folly,  out  of  which  they 
arise. 

APHORISM   XLI.  L.AND    ED. 

ON  THE  RIGHT  TREATMENT  OF  INFIDELS. 

A  regardless  contempt  of  Infidel  writings  is  usually  the  fit- 
test answer  ;  Spreta  vilescerent.  But  where  the  holy  profes- 
sion of  Christians  is  likely  to  receive  either  the  main  or  the 
indirect  blow,  and  a  word  of  defence  may  do  any  thing  to 
ward  it  oft,  there  we  ought  not  to  spare  to  do  it. 

Christian  prudence  goes  a  great  way  in  the  regulating  of 
this.     Some    are  not    capable  of  receiving  rational   answers, 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  75 

especially  in   Divine  things ;  they   were  not  only  lost  upon 
them,  but  religion  dishonored  by  the  contest. 

Of  this    sort  are  the  vulgar  Railers  at  Religion,  the    foul- 
mouthed  Beliers  of  the    Christian  Faith  and  History.     Impu- 
dently   false  and  slanderous    Assertions  can  be  met  only    by 
Assertions  of  their  impudent  and   slanderous    falsehood ;  and 
Christians  will  not,  must  not  condescend  to  this.     How    can 
mere  Railing  be  answered  by  them  who  are  forbidden  to  re- 
turn a  railing  answer  ?     Whether  or  on  what  provocations  such 
offenders  may  be  punished  or  coerced  on  the  score  of  Incivili- 
ty, and    Ill-neighbourhood,   and  for  the  abatement  of  a  Nui- 
sance, as  in  the  case  of  other    Scolds  and  Endangerers  of  the 
public  Peace,  must  be  trusted  to  the  Discretion   of  the  Civil 
Magistrate.     Even  then,  there  is  danger   of  giving  them  im- 
portance, and  flattering  their  vanity,  by  attracting  attention  to 
their  works,  if  the    punishment  be    slight ;  and  if  severe,   of 
spreading  far  and  wide  their  reputation  as    Martyrs,  as    the 
smell  of  a  dead  dog  at  a  distance  is  said  to  change  into  that  of 
Musk.     Experience  hitherto  seems  to  favour  the  plan  of  trea- 
ting these  Betes  puantes  and  Enfans  de  Diable,  as  their  four- 
footed  Brethren,  the  Skink  and  Squash,  are  treated  [38]  by 
the  American  Woodmen,  who  turn  their  backs  upon  the  fetid 
Intruder,  and  make  appear  not  to  see  him,  even  at  the  cost  of 
suffering  him  to  regale  on  the  favourite  viand  of  these  animals, 
the  brains  of  a  stray  goose  or  crested  Thraso  of  the  Dunghill. 
At  all  events,  it  is  degrading  to    the  majesty,  and  injurious  to 
the  character  of  Religion,  to  make  its  safety  the  plea  for  their 
punishment,  or  at  all  to  connect  the  name  of  Christianity  with 
the    castigation  of  Indecencies   that  properly  belong  to    the 
Beadle,  and  the  perpetrators  of  which  would  have  equally  de- 
served his  Lash,  though  the  Religion  of  their  fellow  citizens, 
thus  assailed  by  them,  had  been  that  of  Fo  or  of  Jaggernaut. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  are  to  answer  every  one  that  in- 
quires a  reason^  or  an  account ;  which  supposes  something  re- 
ceptive of  it.  We  ought  to  judge  ourselves  engaged  to  give 
it,  be  it  an  enemy  if  he  will  hear ;  if  it  gain  him  not,  it  may  in 
part  convince  and  cool  him  ;  much  more,  should  it  be  one  who 


to  AIDS    TO    KEFLECTIOX. 

ingenuously  inquires  for  satisfaction,  and  possibly  inclines  to 
receive  the  truth,  but  has  been  prejudiced  by  false  misrepresen- 
tations of  it. 

APHORISM  XLH.  ixighto.x, 

PASSIOX  NO  miEXD  TO  TBUTH. 

Truth  needs  not  the  service  of  passion  ;  yea,  nothing  so 
disserves  it,  as  passion  when  set  to  serve  it.  The  Spirit  of 
truth  is  withal  the  Spirit  of  meekness.  The  Dove  that  rested 
on  that  great  Champion  of  truth,  who  is  The  Truth  itself,  is 
from  Him  derived  to  the  lovers  of  truth,  and  they  ought  to 
seek  the  participation  of  it.  Imprudence  makes  some  kind  of 
Christians  lose  much  of  their  labour,  in  speaking  for  religion, 
and  drive  those  further  off,  whom  they  would  draw  into  it. 

The  confidence  that  attends  a  Christian's  belief  makes  the 
believer  not  fear  men,  to  whom  he  answers,  but  still  he  fears 
his  God,  for  whom  he  answers,  and  whose  interest  is  chief  in 
those  tilings  he  speaks  of.  The  soul  thai  hath  the  deepest 
sense  of  spiritual  things,  and  the  truest  knowledge  of  God, 
is  most  afraid  to  miscarry  in  speaking  of  Him,  most  tender  and 
wary  how  to  acquit  itself  when  engaged  to  speak  of  and  for 
God'[39]. 

APHORISM  XLin.  LEiGHTO--^. 

,  ox    THE    CONSCIENCE. 

It  is  a  fruitless  verbal  Debate,  whether  Conscience  be  a 
Faculty  or  a  Habit,  ^^llen  all  is  examined.  Conscience  will 
be  found  to  be  no  other  than  the  mind  of  a  man^  wider  the 
notion  of  a  particular  reference  to  himself  and  his  own  ac- 
tions. 

COMMENT. 

Whut  Conscience  is,  and  that  it  is  the  ground  and  antece- 
dent of  human  ( or  self- )  consciousness,  and  not  any  modifica- 
tion of  the  latter,  I  have  shown  at  large  in  a  Work  announced 
for  the  Press,  and  described  in  the  Chapter  following.  I  have 
selected  the  preceding  Extract  as  an  Exercise  for  Reflection  ; 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  /  / 

and  because  I  think  that  in  too  closely  following  Thomas  a 
Kempis,  tlie  Archbishop  has  strayed  from  his  own  judgment. 
The  Definition,  for  instance,  seems  to  say  all,  and  in  fact  says  no- 
thing ;  for  if  1  asked.  How  do  you  define  the  humanmind  9  the 
answer  must  at  least  contain^  if  not  consist  of,  the  words,  "  a 
mind  capable  of  Conscience.'^'*  For  Conscience  is  no  synonime 
of  Consciousness,  nor  any  mere  expression  of  the  same  as  mod- 
ified by  the  particular  Object.  On  the  contrary,  a  Conscious- 
ness properly  human,  (t.  e.  <Se//'-consciousness),  with  the  sense 
of  moral  responsibility,  presupposes  the  Conscience,  as  its  an- 
tecedent Condition  and  Ground.  Lastly,  the  sentence,  't  It  is 
a  fruitless  verbal  Debate,"  is  an  assertion  of  the  same  com- 
plexion with  the  contemptuous  Sneers  at  Verbal  Criticism  by 
the  Contemporaries  of  Bentley.  In  Questions  of  Philosophy 
or  Divinity,  that  have  occupied  the  Learned  and  been  the 
subjects  of  many  successive  Controversies,  for  one  instance  of 
mere  Logomachy  I  could  bring  ten  instances  of  Logodadaly 
or  verbal  Legerdemain,  which  have  perilously  confirmed  Prej- 
udices, and  withstood  the  advancement  of  Truth,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  neglect  of  verbal  debate^  i.  e.  strict  discussion  of 
Terms.  In  whatever  sense,  however,  the  term  Conscience 
may  be  used,  the  following  aphorism  is  equally  true  and  im- 
portant. It  is  worth  noticing,  likewise,  that  Leighton  himself 
in  a  following  page  (vol.  ii.  p.  97 ),  tells  us,  that  A  good  Con- 
science is  the  Root  of  a  good  Conversation  :  and  then  quotes 
from  St.  Paul  a  text,  Titus  i.  15,  in  which  the  mind  and  the 
Conscience  are  expressly  distinguished. 

APHORISM  XLIV.  leightox 

THE  LIGHT  OF  KNOW^LEDGE  A    NECESSARY    ACCOMPANIMENT  OF 

A   GOOD  CONSCIENCE. 

If  you  would  have  a  good  conscience,  you  must  by  all  means 
have  so  much  light,  so  much  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God 
as  may  regulate  you,  and  show  you  your  way,  may  teach  you 
how  to  do,  and  speak,  and  think,  as  in  His  presence. 


78  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

APHORISM  XLV.  jleightow. 

YET  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  RULE,  THOUGH  ACCOMPANIED 
BY  AN  ENDEAVOR  TO  ACCOMMODATE  OUR  CONDUCT  TO  THIS 
RULE,    WILL    NOT    OF    ITSELF     FORM    A    GOOD    CONSCIENCE. 

To  set  the  outward  actions  right,  though  with  an  honest  in- 
tention, and  not  so  to  regard  and  find  out  the  inward  disorder 
of  the  heart,  whence  that  in  the  actions  flows,  is  but  to  be  still 
putting  the  index  of  a  clock  right  with  your  finger,  while  it  is 
foul,  or  out  of  order  within,  which  is  a  continual  business,  and 
does  no  good.  Oh  !  but  a  purified  conscience,  a  soul  renewed 
and  refined  in  its  temper  and  affections,  will  make  things  go 
right  without,  in  all  the  duties  and  acts  of  our  callings. 

APHORISM  XL VI.  editor. 

THE    DEPTH    OF    THE  CONSCIENCE. 

How  deeply  seated  the  Conscience  is  in  the  human  Soul, 
is  seen  in  the  effect  which  sudden  Calamities  produce  on  guil- 
ty men,  even  when  unaided  by  any  determinate  notion  or  fears 
of  punishment  after  death.  The  wretched  Criminal,  as  one 
rudely  awakened  from  a  long  sleep,  bewildered  with  the  new 
light,  and  half  recollecting,  half  striving  to  recollect,  a  fearful 
something,  he  knows  not  what,  but  which  he  will  recognize  as 
soon  as  he  hears  the  name,  already  interprets  the  calamities  in- 
to judgments,  Executions  of  a  Sentence  passed  by  an  invisi- 
ble Judge ;  as  if  the  vast  Pyre  of  the  Last  Judgment  were  al- 
ready kindled  in  an  unknown  Distance,  and  some  Flashes  of 
it,  darting  forth  at  intervals  beyond  the  rest,  w^ere  flying  and 
lighting  upon  the  face  of  his  Soul.  The  calamity  may  consist 
in  loss  of  fortune,  or  Character,  or  Reputation ;  but  you  hear 
no  regrets  from  him.  Remorse  extinguishes  all  Regret;  and 
Remorse  is  the  implicit  Creed  of  the  Guilty. 

APHORISM  XL VII.  l.  and  ed. 

God  hath  suited  every  creature  He  hath  made  with  a  con- 
venient good  to  which  it  tends,  and  in  the  obtainment  of  which 
it  rests  and  is  satisfied.  Natural  bodies  have  all  their  own 
natural  place,  whither,  if  not  hindered,  they  move  incessantly 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  79 

till  they  be  in  it ;  and  they  declare,  by  resting  there,  that  they 
are  (as  I  may  say)  where  they  would  be.  Sensitive  creatures 
are  carried  to  seek  a  sensitive  good,  as  agreeable  to  their 
rank  in  being,  and,  attaining  that,  aim  no  further.  Now,  in 
this  is  the  excellency  of  Man,  that  he  is  made  capable  of  a 
communion  with  his  Maker,  and,  because  capable  of  it,  is  un- 
satisfied without  it ;  the  soul,  being  cut  out  (so  to  speak)  to 
that  largeness,  cannot  be  filled  with  less.  Though  he  is  fallen 
from  his  right  to  that  good,  and  from  all  right  desire  of  it,  yet, 
not  from  a  capacity  of  it,  no,  nor  from  a  necessity  of  it,  for  the 
answering  and  filling  of  his  capacity. 

Though  the  heart  once  gone  from  God  turns  continually  fur- 
ther away  from  him,  and  moves  not  towards  Him  till  it  be  re- 
newed, yet,  even  in  that  wandering,  it  retains  that  natural  re- 
lation to  God,  as  its  centre,  that  it  hath  no  true  rest  elsewhere, 
nor  can  by  any  means  find  it.  It  is  made  for  Him,  and  is  there- 
fore still   restless  till  it  meet  with  him. 

It  is  true,  the  natural  man  takes  much  pains  to  quiet  his 
heart  by  other  things,  and  digests  many  vexations  with  hopes 
of  contentment  in  the  end  and  accomplishment  of  some  de- 
sign he  hath  ;  but  still  the  heart  misgives.  Many  times  he  at- 
tains not  the  thing  he  seeks  ;  but  if  he  do,  yet  he  never  at- 
tains the  satisfaction  he  seeks  and  expects  in  it,  but  only  learns 
from  that  to  desire  something  further,  and  still  hunts  on  after 
a  fancy,  drives  his  own  shadow  before  him,  and  never  over- 
takes it ;  and  if  he  did,  yet  it  is  but  a  shadow.  And  so,  in 
running  from  God,  besides  the  sad  end,  he  carries  an  interwo- 
ven punishment  with  his  sin,  the  natural  disquiet  and  vexa- 
tion of  his  spirit,  fluttering  to  and  fro,  and  finding  no  7'estfor 
the  sole  of  his  foot ;  the  tvaters  of  inconstancy  and  vanity  cov- 
ering the  whole  face  of  the  earth. 

These  things  are  too  gross  and  heavy.  The  soul,  the  im- 
mortal soul,  descended  from  heaven,  must  either  be  more  hap- 
py, or  remain  miserable.  The  Highest,  the  Increated  Spirit, 
is  the  proper  good,  the  Father  of  spirits,  that  pure  and  full 
good,  which  raises  the  soul  above  itself;  whereas  all  other 
things  draw  it  down  below  itself.     So,  then,  it  is   never  well 


80  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

with  the  soul,  but  when  it  is  near  unto  God,  yea,  in  its  union 
with  Him,  married  to  Him  :  mismatching  itself  elsewhere,  it 
hath  never  any  thing  but  shame  and  sorrow.  All  that  forsake 
Thee  shall  be  ashamed^  says  the  Prophet,  Jer.  xvii.  13  :  and 
the  Psalmist;  They  that  are  far  offfj'om  thee  shall  perish^  Psal. 
Ixxiii.  27.  And  this  is  indeed  our  natural  miserable  condition, 
and  it  is  often  expressed  this  way,  by  estrangedness  and  dis~ 
tance  from  God. 

The  same  sentiments  are  to  be  found  in  the  works  of  Pagan 
Philosophers  and  Moralists.  Well  then  may  they  be  made  a 
Subject  of  Reflection  in  our  days.  And  well  may  the  pious 
Deist,  if  such  a  character  now  exists,  reflect  that  Christianity 
alone  both  teaches  the  way,  and  provides  the  means,  of  fulfil- 
ling the  obscure  promises  of  this  great  Instinct  for  all  men, 
which  the  Philosophy  of  boldest  Pretensions  confined  to  the 
sacred  Few. 

APHORISM  XLVIIL  leighton. 

A  CONTRACTED  SPHERE,  OR  WHAT  IS  CALLED  RETIRING  FR03I 
THE  BUSINESS  OF  THE  WORLD,  NO  SECURITY  FROM  THE  SPIRIT 
OF    THE    WORLD. 

The  heart  may  be  engaged  in  a  little  business  as  much,  if 
thou  watch  it  not,  as  in  many  and  great  affairs.  A  man  may 
drown  in  a  little  brook  or  pool,  as  well  as  in  a  great  river,  if 
he  be  down  and  plunge  himself  into  it,  and  put  his  head  un- 
der water.  Some  care  thou  must  have,  that  thou  mayest  not 
care.  Those  things  that  are  thorns  indeed,  thou  must  make  a 
hedge  of  them,  to  keep  out  those  temptations  that  accompany 
sloth,  and  extreme  want  that  waits  on  it ;  but  let  them  be  the 
hedge  :  suffer  them  not  to  grow  within  the  garden. 

APHORIS3I  XLIX.  LEienTON. 

ON   CTURCH-GOING,  AS  A  PART    OF  RELIGIOUS  MORALITY,  WHEN 
NOT  IN  REFERENCE  TO  A   SPIRITUAL  RELIGION. 

It  is  a  strange  folly  in  multitudes  of  us,  to  set  ourselves  no 
mark,  to  propound  no  end  in  the  hearing  of  the  Gospel.  The 
merchant  sails  not  n^erely  that  he  may  sail,  but  for  trafi&c,  and 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  81 

traffics  that  he  may  be  rich.  The  husbandman  plows  not 
merely  to  keep  himself  busy,  with  no  further  end,  but  plows 
that  he  may  sow,  and  sows  that  he  may  reap  with  advantage. 
And  shall  we  do  the  most  excellent  and  fruitful  work  fruitless- 
ly^— hear  only  to  hear,  and  look  no  further  ?  This  is  indeed 
a  great  vanity,  and  a  great  misery,  to  lose  that  labour,  and 
gain  nothing  by  it,  which  duly  used,  would  be  of  all  others 
most  advantageous  and  gainful :  and  yet  all  meetings  are  full 
of  this  ! 

APHORISM    L.  LEIGHTON. 

ON  THE  HOPES  AND  SELF-SATISFACTION  OF  A  RELIGIOUS  MORA- 
LIST, INDEPENDENT   OF    A   SPIRITUAL    FAITH ON    WHAT  ARE 

THEY  GROUNDED  ? 

There  have  been  great  disputes  one  way  or  another,  about 
the  merit  of  good  works ;  but  I  truly  think  they  who  have  la- 
boriously engaged  in  them  have  been  very  idly,  though  very 
eagerly,  employed  about  nothing,  since  the  more  sober  of  the 
schoolmen  themselves  acknowledge  there  can  be  no  such  thing 
as  meriting  from  the  blessed  God,  in  the  human,  or,  to  speak 
more  accurately,  in  any  created  nature  whatsoever :  nay  so 
far  from  any  possibility  of  merit,  there  can  be  no  room  for  re- 
ward any  otherwise  than  of  the  sovereign  pleasure  and  gra- 
cious kindness  of  God  ;  and  the  more  ancient  writers,  when 
they  use  the  word  merit,  mean  nothing  by  it  but  a  certain  cor- 
relaie  to  that  reward  which  God  both  promises  and  bestows  of 
mere  grace  and  benignity.  Otherwise,  in  order  to  constitute 
what  is  properly  called  merit,  many  things  must  concur,  which 
no  man  in  his  senses  will  presume  to  attribute  to  human 
works,  though  ever  so  excellent ;  particularly,  that  the  thing 
done  must  not  previously  be  matter  of  debt,  and  that  it  be  en- 
tire, or  our  own  act,  unassisted  by  foreign  aid  ;  it  must  also  be 
perfectly  good,  and  it  must  bear  an  adequate  proportion  to  the 
reward  claimed  in  consequence  of  it.  If  all  these  things  do 
not  concur,  the  act  cannot  possibly  amount  to  merit.  Whereas 
I  think  no  one  will  venture  to  assert,  that  any  one  of  these 

11 


82  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

can  take  place  in  any  human  action  whatever.  But  why 
should  I  enlarge  here,  when  one  single  circumstance  over- 
throws all  those  titles :  the  most  righteous  of  mankind  would 
not  be  able  to  stand,  if  his  works  were  weighed  in  the  balance 
of  strict  justice  ;  how  much  less  then  could  they  deserve  that 
immense  glory  which  is  now  in  question  !  Nor  is  this  to  be 
denied  only  concerning  the  unbeliever  and  the  sinner,  but 
concerning  the  righteous  and  pious  believer,  who  is  not  only 
free  from  all  the  guilt  of  his  former  impenitence  and  lebellion 
but  endowed  with  the  gift  of  the  Spirit.  "  For  the  time  is 
come  that  judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God :  and  if 
it  first  begin  at  as,  what  shall  the  end  be  of  them  that  obey 
not  the  Gospel  of  God  ?  And  if  the  righteous  scarcely  be 
saved,  where  shall  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  appear  ?"  1  Pe- 
ter iv,  17,  18.  The  Apostle's  interrogation  expresses  the 
most  vehement  negation,  and  signifies  that  no  mortal,  in 
whatever  degree  he  is  placed,  if  he  be  called  to  the  strict 
examination  of  Divine  Justice,  without  daily  and  repeated  for- 
giveness could  be  able  to  keep  his  standing,  and  much  less 
could  he  arise  to  that  glorious  height.  '  That  merit,'  says 
Bernard,  '  on  which  my  hope  relies,  consists  in  these  three 
'  things  ;  the  love  of  adoption,  the  truth  of  the  promise,  and 
*  the  power  of  its  performance.'  This  is  the  threefold  cord 
which  cannot  be  broken. 

COMMENT. 

Often  have  I  heard  it  said  by  advocates  for  the  Socinian 
Scheme — True  !  we  are  all  sinners;  but  even  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament God  has  promised  Forgiveness  on  Repentance.  One 
of  the  Fathers  (I  forget  which)  supplies  the  Retort — True  ! 
God  has  promised  Pardon  on  Penitence  :  but  has  he  promised 
Penitence  on  Sin  ? — He  that  repenteth  shall  be  forgiven  :  but 
where  is  it  said.  He  that  sinneth  shall  repent  ?  But  Repen- 
tance, perhaps,  the  Repentance  required  in  Scripture,  the  Pas- 
sing into  a  new  niind^  into  a  new  and  contrary  Principle  of 
Action,   this  Metanoia[40],  is  in   the  Sinner's  own  power  ? 


MORAL    AND    RELIGIOUS    APHORISMS.  83 

at  his  own  Liking  ?  He  has  but  to  open  his  eyes  to  the  sin, 
and  the  Tears  are  close  at  hand  to  wash  it  away ! — Verily, 
the  exploded  Tenet  of  Transubstantiation  is  scarcely  at  great- 
er variance  with  the  common  Sense  and  Experience  of  Man- 
kind, or  borders  more  closely  on  a  contradiction  in  terms,  than 
this  volunteer  Transmentation^  this  Self-change,  as  the  easy 
[41]  means  of  Self-salvation!  But  the  Reflections  of  our 
evangelical  Author  on  this  su])ject  will  appropriately  com- 
mence the  Aphorisms  relating  to  Spiritual  Religion. 


ELEMENTS 

OF 

RELIGIOUS  PHILOSOPHY. 

PRELIMIx\ARY    TO    THE 

APHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION. 


Philip  saitli  unto  liim :  Lord  show  us  the  Fatlier,  and  it  sufficeth  us. 
Jesus  saith  unto  hiin,  He  tliat  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father :  and 
how  sayest  thou  then,  Show  us  the  Father  ?  BeUevest  thou  not,  tliat  I  am 
in  the  Father  and  the  Father  in  me  ?  And  I  will  pray  tlie  Father  and  he 
shall  give  you  another  Comforter,  even  the  Spirit  of  Truth :  whom  the 
world  cannot  receive,  because  it  seeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him.  But 
ye  know  him  (for  he  dwclleth  with  you  and  shall  be  in  you).  And  in  that 
day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  my  Father,  and  ye  in  me  and  I  in  you. 
John  xiv.  8,  9,  10,  16,  17,  20. 


PRELIMINARY. 


If  there  be  aught  Spiritual  in  Man,  the  Will  must  be  such. 

If  there  be  a  Will,  there  must  be  Spirituality  in  Man. 

I  suppose  both  positions  granted.  The  Reader  admits  the 
reality  of  the  power,  agency,  or  mode  of  Being  expressed  in 
the  term,  Spirit ;  and  the  actual  existence  of  a  Will,  He  sees 
clearly,  that  the  idea  of  the  former  is  necessary  to  the  con- 
ceivability  of  the  latter ;  and  that,  vice  versa,  in  asserting  tlie 
fact  of  the  latter  he  presumes  and  instances  the  truth  of  the 
former — just  as  in  our  common  and  received  Systems  of  Nat- 
ural Philosophy,  the  Being  of  imponderable  Matter  is  assu- 
med to  render  the  Lode-stone  intelligible,  and  the  Fact  of 
the  Lode-stone  adduced  to  prove  the  reality  of  imponderable 
Matter. 

In  short,  I  suppose  the  Reader,  whom  I  now  invite  to  the 
third  and  last  Division  of  the  work,  already  disposed  to  reject 
for  himself  and  his  human  Brethren  the  insidious  title  of 
"  Nature's  noblest  Animal^^^''  or  to  retort  it  as  the  unconscious 
Irony  of  the  Epicurean  Poet  on  the  animalizing  tendency  of 
his  own  philosophy.  I  suppose  him  convinced,  that  there  is 
more  in  man  than  can  be  rationally  referred  to  the  life  of  Na- 
ture and  the  Mechanism  of  Organization ;  that  he  has  a  will 
not  included  in  this  mechanism ;  and  that  the  Will  is  in  an  es- 
pecial and  pre-eminent  sense  the  spiritual  part  of  our  Human- 

Unless  then  we  have  some  distinct  notion  of  the  W^ill,  and 
some  acquaintance  with  the  prevalent  errors  respecting  the 
same,  an  insight  into  the  nature  of  Spiritual  Religion  is  scarce- 
ly possible  ;  and  our  reflections  on  the  particular  truths  and 
evidences  of  a  spiritual  State  will  remain  obscure,  perplexed. 


88 


AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 


and  unsafe.     To  place  my  reader  on  this  requisite  Vantage- 
ground,  is  the  purpose  of  the  following  Exposition. 

We  have  begun,  as  in  geometry,  with  defining  our  Terms ; 
and  we  proceed,  like  the  Geometricians,  with  stating  our 
postulates;  the  diflfei enee  being,  that  the  Postulates  of  Ge- 
ometry no  man  can  deny,  those  of  Moral  Science  are  such  as 
no  good  man  will  deny.  For  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  dis- 
claim our  Nature,  as  sentient  Beings  ;  but  it  is  in  our  power  to 
disclaim  our  Prerogative  as  Moral  Beings.  It  is  possible  ( barely 
possible,  I  admit)  that  a  man  may  have  remained  ignorant  or 
unconscious  of  the  Moral  Law  within  him  :  and  a  man  need 
only  persist  in  disobeying  the  Law  of  Conscience  to  make  it 
possible  for  himself  to  deny  its  existence,  or  to  reject  and  re- 
pel it  as  a  phantom  of  Superstition.  Were  it  othenvise  the 
Creed  would  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  Morality  as  the  Mul- 
tiplication Table. 

This  then  is  the  distinction  of  Moral  Philosophy — not  that 
I  begin  with  one  or  more  Assumptions  ,  for  this  is  common  to 
all  science ;  but — that  I  assume  a  something,  the  proof  of 
which  no  man  can  give  to  another,  yet  every  man  may  find  for 
himself.  If  any  man  assert,  that  he  can  not  find  it,  I  am  bound 
to  disbelieve  him  !  I  cannot  do  otherwise  without  unsettling 
the  very  foundations  of  my  own  moral  Nature.  For  I  either 
find  it  as  an  essential  of  the  Humanity  common  to  Him  and 
Me :  or  I  have  not  found  it  at  all,  except  as  an  Hypochon- 
driast  finds  Glass  Legs.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  tvill  not 
find  it,  he  excommunicates  himself.  He  forfeits  his  personal 
Plights,  and  becomes  a  Things  i.  e.  one  who  may  rightfully  be 
employed  or  used,  as  a  [42]  means  to  an  end,  against  his  will, 
and  without  regard  to  his  interest. 

All  the  significant  objections  of  the  Materialist  and  Neces- 
sitarian are  contained  in  the  term,  Morality,  all  the  Objections 
of  the  Infidel  in  the  term.  Religion  ?  The  very  terms,  I  say 
imply  a  something  granted,  which  the  Objection  supposes  not 
granted.  The  term  presumes  what  the  Objection  denies,  and 
in  denying  j?)*esumes  the  contrary.  For  it  is  most  important 
to  observe,  that  the  Reasoncrs  on  both  sides  commence  by  ta- 


PRELIMINARY.  ,  89 

king  something  for  granted,  our  Assent  to  which  they  ask  or 
demand :  i.  e.  both  set  off  with  an  Assumption  in  the  form  of 
a  Postulate.  But  the  Epicurean  assumes  what  according  to 
himself  he  neither  is  nor  can  be  under  any  obligation  to  as- 
sume, and  demands  what  he  can  have  no  right  to  demand : 
for  he  denies  the  reality  of  all  moral  Obligation,  the  existence 
of  any  Right.  If  he  use  the  words^  Right  and  Obligation,  he 
does  it  deceptively,  and  means  only  Compulsion  and  Power. 
To  overthrow  the  Faith  in  aught  higher  or  other  than  Nature 
and  physical  Necessity,  is  the  very  purpose  of  his  argument. 
He  desires  you  only  to  take  for  granted^  that  all  reality  is  in- 
cluded in  Nature,  and  he  may  then  safely  defy  you  to  ward  off 
his  canclusion — that  nothing  is  concluded  ! 

But  as  he  cannot  morally  demand,  neither  can  he  rationally 
expect,  your  Assent  to  this  premise:  for  he  cannot  be  ignorant 
that  the  best  and  greatest  of  Men  have  devoted  their  lives  to 
the  enforcement  of  the  contrary  ;  that  the  vast  majority  of  the 
human  race  in  all  ages  and  in  all  nations  have  believed  in  the 
contrary ;  and  that  there  is  not  a  language  on  Earth,  in  which 
he  could  argue,  for  ten  minutes,  in  support  of  his  scheme  with- 
out sliding  into  words  and  phrases,  that  imply  the  contrary.  It 
has  been  said,  that  the  Arabic  has  a  thousand  names  for  a  Li- 
on ;  but  this  would  be  a  trifle  compared  with  the  number  of 
superfluous  words  and  useless  Synonimes  that  would  be  found 
in  an  index  Expurgatorius  of  any  European  Dictionary  con- 
structed on  the  principles  of  a  consistent  and  strictly  conse- 
quential Materialism  ! 

The  Christian  likewise  grounds  hi&  philosophy  on  asser- 
tions ;  but  with  the  best  of  all  reasons  for  making  them — viz. 
that  he  ought  so  to  do.  He  asserts  what  he  can  neither  prove 
nor  account  for,  nor  himself  comprehend  ;  but  with  the  strong- 
est of  inducements^  that  of  understanding  thereby  whatever 
else  it  most  concerns  him  to  understand  aright.  And  yet  his 
Assertions  have  nothing  in  them  of  Theory  or  Hypothesis  ; 
but  are  in  immediate  reference  to  three  ultimate  Facts  ;  name- 
ly, the  Reality  of  the  law  of  conscience  ;  the  existence  of  a 
RESPONSIBLE  WILL,  as  the  subject  of  that  law^ ;  and  lastly,  the 

12 


90 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


existence  of  Evil — of  Evil  essentially  such,  not  by  accident 
of  outward  circumstances,  not  derived  from  its  physical  con- 
sequences, or  from  any  cause,  out  of  itself.  The  first  is  a 
Fact  of  Consciousness  ;  the  second  a  Fact  of  Reason  neces- 
sarily concluded  from  the  first ;  and  the  third  a  Fact  of  Histo- 
ry interpreted  by  both. 

Omnia  exeunt  in  mysterium^  says  a  Schoolman  :  i.  e.  There 
is  nothing,  the  absolute  ground  of  which  is  not  a  Mystery. 
The  contrary  were  indeed  a  contradiction  in  terms  :  for  how 
can  that,  which  is  to  explain  all  things,  be  susceptible  of  an 
explanation  ?  It  would  be  to  suppose  the  same  thing  first  and 
second  at  the  same  time. 

If  I  rested  here,  I  should  merely  have  placed  my  Creed  in 
direct  ^opposition  to  that  of  the  Necessitarians,  who  assume 
(for  observe  both  parties  begin  in  an  Assumption,  and  cannot 
do  otherwise)  that  motives  act  on  the  Will,  as  bodies  act  on 
bodies  ;  and  that  whether  mind  and  matter  are  essentially  the 
same  or  essentially  different,  they  are  both  alike  under  one 
and  the  same  law  of  compulsory  Causation.  But  this  is  far 
from  exhausting  my  intention.  I  mean  at  the  same  time  to 
oppose  the  Disciples  of  Shaftesbury  and  those  who,  substitu- 
ting one  Faith  for  another,  have  been  well  called  the  pious 
Deists  of  the  last  Century,  in  order  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  Infidels  of  the  present  age,  who  persuade  themselves,  (for 
the  thing  itself  is  not  possible )  that  they  reject  all  Faith.  I 
declare  my  dissent  from  these  too,  because  they  imposed  upon 
themselves  an  J6?ea  for  a  Reality  :  a  most  sublime  Idea  indeed, 
and  so  necessary  to  Human  Nature,  that  without  it  no  Virtue 
is  conceivable  ;  but  still  an  Idea  !  In  contradiction  to  their 
splendid  but  delusory  Tenets,  I  profess  a  deep  conviction  that 
Man  was  and  is  a  fallen  Creature,  not  by  accidents  of  bodily 
constitution,  or  any  other  cause,  which  human  Wisdom  in  a 
course  of  ages  might  be  supposed  capable  of  removing ;  but 
diseased  in  his  Will,  in  that  Will  which  is  the  true  and  only 
strict  synonime  of  the  Word,  I,  or  the  intelligent  Self.  Thus 
at  each  pf  these  two  opposite  Roads  ( the  Philosophy  of  Hob- 
bes,  and  that  of  Shaftesbury),  I  have  placed  a  directing  Post, 


PRELIMINARY.  91 

informing  my  Fellow-travellers,  that  on  neither  of  these 
Roads  can  they  see  the  Truths  to  which  I  would  direct  their 
attention. 

But  the  place  of  starting  was  at  the  meeting  of  four  Roads, 
and  one  only  was  the  right  road.  I  proceed  therefore  to  pre- 
clude the  opinion  of  those  likewise,  who  indeed  agree  with 
me  as  to  the  moral  Responsibility  of  Man  in  opposition  to  Hob- 
bes  and  the  Anti-moralists,  and  that  He  was  a  fallen  Creature, 
essentially  diseased,  in  opposition  to  Shaftesbury  and  the  Mis- 
interpreters  of  Plato ;  but  who  differ  from  me  in  exaggerating 
the  diseased  weakness  of  the  Will  into  an  absolute  privation 
of  all  Freedom,  thereby  making  moral  responsibility,  not  a 
mystery  above  comprehension,  but  a  direct  contradiction,  of 
which  we  do  distinctly  comprehend  the  absurdity.  Among  the 
consequences  of  this  Doctrine,  is  that  direful  one  of  swallow- 
ing up  all  the  Attributes  of  the  Supreme  Being  in  the  one 
Attribute  of  Infinite  Power,  and  thence  deducing  that  Things 
are  good  and  wise  because  they  were  created,  and  not  created 
through  Wisdom  and  Goodness.  Thence  too  the  awful  Attri- 
bute of  Justice  is  explained  away  into  a  mere  right  of  abso- 
lute Property ;  the  sacred  distinction  between  Things  and 
Persons  is  erased  ;  and  the  selection  of  Persons  for  Virtue  and 
Vice  in  this  Life,  and  for  eternal  Happiness  or  Misery  in  the 
next,  is  represented  as  the  result  of  a  mere  Will^  acting  in 
the  blindness  and  solitude  of  its  own  Infinity.  The  Title  of  a 
Work  written  by  the  great  and  pious  Boyle  is  "  Of  the  Awe, 
which  the  human  mind  owes  to  the  supreme  Reason."  This, 
in  the  language  of  these  gloomy  Doctors,  must  be  translated 
into — "  the  horror,  which  a  Being  capable  of  eternal  Pleas- 
ure or  Pain  is  compelled  to  feel  at  the  idea  of  an  infinite  Pow- 
er, about  to  inflict  the  latter  on  an  immense  majority  of  hu- 
man souls,  without  any  power  on  their  part  either  to  prevent 
it  or  the  actions  which  are  (not  indeed  its  causes  but)  its  as- 
signed signals  J  and  preceding  links  of  the  same  iron  chain ! 

Against  these  Tenets  I   maintain,  that  a  Will  conceived  se-"^ 
parate  from  Intelligence  is  a  Non-entity,  and  a  mere  Phantasm 
of  Abstraction  ;  and  that  a  Will,  the  state  of  which  does  in  no 


92 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


sense  originate  in  its  own  act,  is  an  absolute  contradiction.  It 
might  be  an  instinct,  an  Impulse,  a  plastic  Power,  and  if  ac- 
companied with  consciousness,  a  Desire ;  but  a  Will  it  could 
not  be  !  And  this  every  human  being  knows  with  equal  clear- 
QiesSj  though  different  minds  may  reflect  on  it  with  different  de- 
grees of  distinctness  ;  for  who  would  not  smile  at  the  notion 
of  a  Rose  willing  to  put  forth  its  Buds  and  expand  them  into 
Flowers  ?  That  such  a  phrase  would  be  deemed  di  poetic  Li- 
cence proves  the  difference  in  the  things :  for  all  metaphors 
are  grounded  on  an  apparent  likeness  of  things  essentially  dif- 
ferent. I  utterly  disclaim  the  idea,  that  any  human  Intelli- 
gence, with  whatever  power  it  might  manifest  itself,  is  alone 
adequate  to  the  office  of  restoring  health  to  the  Will :  but  at 
the  same  time  I  deem  it  impious  and  absurd  to  hold,  that  the 
Creator  would  have  given  us  the  faculty  of  reason,  or  that 
the  Redeemer  would  in  so  many  varied  forms  of  Argument 
and  Persuasion  have  appealed  to  it,  if  it  had  been  either  totally 
useless  or  wholly  impotent.  Lastly,  I  find  all  these  several 
Truths  reconciled  and  united  in  the  belief,  that  the  imperfect 
human  understanding  can  be  effectually  exerted  only  in  sub- 
ordination to,  and  in  a  dependent  alliance  with,  the  means  and 
aidances  supplied  by  the  all-perfect  and  Supreme  Reason ;  but 
that  under  these  conditions  it  is  not  only  an  admissible,  but  a 
necessary  instrument  of  ameliorating  both  ourselves  and  others. 


We  may  now  proceed  to  our  reflections  on  the  Spirit  of 
Religion.  The  first  three  or  four  Aphorisms  I  have  selected 
from  the  Theological  Works  of  Dr.  Henry  More,  a  contem- 
porary of  Archbishop  Leighton's,  and  like  him,  held  in  suspi- 
cion by  the  Calvinists  of  that  time  as  a  Latitudinarian  and 
Platonizing  Divine,  and  probably,  like  him,  would  have  been 
arraigned  as  a  Calvinist  by  the  Latitudinarians  ( I  cannot  say, 
Platonists)  of  this  Day,  had  the  suspicion  been  equally  ground- 
less. One  or  two  the  Editor  has  ventured  to  add  from  his 
own  Reflections.    The  })urpose,  however,  is  the  same  in  all — 


PRELIMINARY.  93 

that  of  declaring,  in  the  first  place,  what  Religion  is  not,  what 
is  not  a  Religious  Spirit,  and  what  are  not  to  be  deemed  in- 
fluences of  the  Spirit.  If  after  these  Disclaimers  the  Editor 
shall  without  proof  be  charged  by  any  with  favouring  the  er- 
rors of  the  Familists,  Vanists,  Seekers,  Behmenists  or  by 
whatever  other  names  Church  History  records  the  poor  be- 
wildered Enthusiasts,  who  in  the  swarming  time  of  our  Repub- 
lic turned  the  facts  of  the  Gospel  into  allegories,  and  superse- 
ded the  written  Ordinances  of  Christ  by  a  pretended  Teach- 
ing and  sensible  Presence  of  the  Spirit,  he  appeals  against 
them  to  their  own  consciences,  as  wilful  Slanderers.  But  if  with 
proof,  I  have  in  these  Aphorisms  signed  and  sealed  my  own 
Condemnation. 

"  These  things  I  could  not  forbear  to  write.  For  the  Light 
within  me,  that  is,  my  Reason  and  Conscience,  does  assure  me 
that  the  Ancient  and  Apostolic  Faith  according  to  the  histo- 
rical Meaning  thereof,  and  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  Creed,  is 
solid  and  true  :  and  that  Familism  in  its  Fairest  form  and  un- 
der whatever  disguise  is  a  smooth  Tale  to  seduce  the  simple 
from  their  Allegiance  to  Christ." 

Henry  More's  Theological  Works,  p.  372. 


APHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION- 


And  here  it  will  not  be  impertinent  to  observe,  that  what  the  eldest 
Greek  Philosophy  entitled  the  Reason  (N0T2)  and  ideas,  the  Philosophic 
Apostle  names  the  Spirit  and  Truths  spiritually  discerned :  while  to  those 
who  in  tlie  pride  of  Learning  or  in  the  over-weening  meanness  of  mod- 
em Metaphysics  decry  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit  in  Man  and  its  possible 
coimiiunion  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  vulgar  enthusiasm  !  I  submit  the  fol- 
lowing Sentences  from  a  Pagan  Philosopher,  a  Nobleman  and  a  Minister 
of  State — "Ita  dico,  Lucili !  sacrr  intra  nos  Spiritus  sedet,  malonmi 
bonorumque  nostrorum  observator  et  custos.  Hie  prout  a  nobis  tractatus 
est,  ita  nos  ipse  tractat.    Bonus  vir  sine  Deo  nemo  est."    Seneca. 


APHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL   RELIGION. 


APHORISM  I.  H.  MORE. 

Every  one  is  to  give  a  reason  of  his  faith  :  but  Priests 
and  Ministers  more  punctually  than  any,  their  province  being 
to  make  good  every  sentence  of  the  Bible  to  a  rational  en- 
quirer into  the  truth  of  these  oracles.  Enthusiasts  find  it  an 
easy  thing  to  heat  the  fancies  of  unlearned  and  unreflecting 
Hearers;  but  when  a  sober  man  would  be  satisfied  of  the 
Grounds  from  whence  they  speak,  he  shall  not  have  one  syl- 
lable or  the  least  title  of  a  pertinent  answer.  Only  they  will 
talk  big  of  THE  SPIRIT,  and  inveigh  against  Reason  w^ith  bitter 
Reproaches,  calling  it  carnal  or  fleshly,  though  it  be  indeed  no 
soft  flesh,  but  enduring  and  penetrant  steel,  even  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  and  such  as  pierces  to  the  heart. 

APHORISM  II.  H.  MORE. 

There  are  two  very  bad  things  in  this  resolving  of  men's 
Faith  and  Practice  into  the  immediate  suggestion  of  a  Spirit 
not  acting  on  our  Understandings,  or  rather  into  the  illumina- 
tion of  such  a  Spirit  as  they  can  give  no  account  of,  such  as 
does  not  enlighten  their  reason  or  enable  them  to  render  their 
doctrine  intelligible  to  others.  First,  it  defaces  and  makes 
useless  that  part  of  the  Image  of  God  in  us,  which  we  call 
REASON  :  and  secondly,  it  takes  away  that  advantage  which 
raises  Christianity  above  all  other  Religions,  that  she  dare  ap- 
peal to" so  solid  a  faculty. 

APHORISM  III.  EDITOR. 

It  is  the  glory  of  the  Gospel  Charter  and  the  Christian  Con- 
stitution, that  its  Author  and  Head  is  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  Es- 

13 


98  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

sential  Reason  as  well  as  Absolute  and  Incomprehensible  Will. 
Like  a  just  Monarch,  he  refers  even  his  own  causes  to  the 
Judgment  of  his  high  Courts. — He  has  his  King's  Bench  in 
the  Reason,  his  Court  of  Equity  in  the  Conscience;  that  the 
representative  of  his  Majesty  and  universal  Justice,  this  the 
nearest  to  the  King's  heart,  and  the  Dispenser  of  his  particu- 
lar Decrees.  He  has  likewise  his  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in 
the  Understanding,  his  Court  of  Exchequer  in  the  Prudence. 
The  Laws  are  his  Laws.  And  though  by  Signs  and  Miracles 
he  has  mercifully  condescended  to  interline  here  and  there 
with  his  own  hand  the  great  Statute-book,  which  he  had  dic- 
tated to  his  Amanuensis,  Nature  :  yet  has  he  been  graciously 
pleased  to  forbid  our  receiving  as  the  King''s  Mandates  aught 
that  is  not  stamped  with  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Conscience,  and 
countersigned  by  the  Reason [43]. 

APHORISM  IV. 

ON  AN  UNLEARNED  MINISTRY,  UNDER  PRETENCE  OF  A  CALL  OF 
THE  SPIRIT,  AND  INWARD  GRACES  SUPERSEDING  OUTWARD 
HELPS. 

Tell  me,  Ye  high-flown  Perfectionists^  Ye  Boasters  of  the 
Light  within  you,  could  the  highest  perfection  of  your  inward 
Light  ever  show  to  you  the  History  of  past  Ages,  the  state 
of  the  World  at  present,  the  Knowledge  of  Arts  and  Tongues 
without  Books  or  Teachers  ?  How  then  can  you  understand 
the  Providence  of  God,  or  the  age,  the  purpose,  the  fulfilment 
of  Prophecies,  or  distinguish  such  as  have  been  fulfilled  from 
those  to  the  fulfilment  of  which  we  are  to  look  forward  ?  How^ 
can  you  judge  concerning  the  authenticity  and  uncorrupted- 
H'ess  of  the  Gospels,  and  the  other  sacred  Scriptures  ?  And 
how  without  this  knowledge  can  you  support  the  truth  of 
Christianity  ?  How  can  you  either  have,  or  give  a  reason  for 
the  faith  which  you  profess  ?  This  Light  within,  that  loves 
Darkness,  and  would  exclude  those  excellent  Gifts  of  God  to 
Mankind,  Knowledge  and  Understanding,  what  is  it  but  a  sullen 
self-sufTiciency  within  you,  engendering  contempt  of  Superi- 
ors, pride  and  a  vSpirit  of  Division,  and  inducing  you  to  reject 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  99 

for  yourselves  and  to  undervalue  in  others  the  Helps  without, 
which  the  Grace  of  God  has  provided  and  appointed  for  his 
Church — nay,  to  make  them  grounds  or  pretexts  of  your  dis- 
like or  suspicion  of  Christ's  Ministers  who  have  fruitfully 
availed  themselves  of  the  Helps  afforded  them  ? — Henry 
More. 

APHORISM  V. 

There  are  Wanderers,  whom  neither  pride  nor  a  perverse 
humour  have  led  astray;  and  whose  condition  is  such,  that  1 
think  few  more  worthy  of  a  man's  best  directions.  For  the 
more  imperious  Sects  having  put  such  unhandsome  vizards  on 
Christianity,  and  the  sincere  Milk  of  the  Word  having  been 
every  where  so  sophisticated  by  the  humours  and  inventions  of 
men,  it  has  driven  these  anxious  Melancholists  to  seek  for  a 
Teacher  that  cannot  deceive,  the  Voice  of  th^  eternal  Word 
within  them  ;  to  which  if  they  be  faithful,  they  assure  them- 
selves it  will  be  faithful  to  them  in  return.  Nor  would  this 
be  a  groundless  Presumption,  if  they  had  sought  this  Voice  in 
the  Reason  and  the  Conscience,  with  the  Scripture  articulating 
the  same,  instead  of  giving  heed  to  their  Fancy  and  mistaking 
bodily  disturbances,  and  the  vapors  resulting  therefrom,  for  in- 
spiration and  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit. — Henry  More. 

APHOrJSM  VI. 

When  every  man  is  his  own  end,  all  things  will  come  to  a 
bad  end.  Blessed  were  those  days,  when  every  man  thought 
himself  rich  and  fortunate  by  the  good  success  of  the  public 
wealth  and  glory.  We  want  public  Souls,  we  want  them.  I 
speak  it  with  compassion  :  there  is  no  sin  and  abuse  in  the 
world  that  affects  my  thought  so  much.  Every  man  thinks, 
that  he  is  a  whole  Commonwealth  in  his  private  Family.  Om- 
nes  quae  sua  sunt  quaerunt.  All  seek  their  own. — Bishop 
Hacket's  Sermons,  p.  449. 

COMMENT. 

Selfishness  is  common  to  all  ages  and  countries.  In  all 
ages  Self-seeking  is  the  Rule,  and  self-sacrifice  the  Exception. 


100 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


But  if  to  seek  our  private  advantage  in  harmony  with,  and  by 
the  furtherance  of,  the  pubUc  prosperity,  and  to  derive  a  por- 
tion of  our  happiness  from  sympathy  with  the  prosperity  of 
our  fellow  men — if  this  be  Public  Spirit,  it  would  be  morose 
and  querulous  to  pretend  that  there  is  any  want  of  it  in  this 
country  and  at  the  present  time.  On  the  contrary,  the  num- 
ber of  "public  souls"  and  the  general  readiness  to  contribute 
to  the  public  good,  in  science  and  in  religion,  in  patriotism 
and  in  philanthropy,  stand  prominent [44]  among  the  charac- 
teristics of  this  and  the  preceding  generation.  The  habit  of 
referring  Actions  and  Opinions  to  fixed  laws ;  Convictions 
rooted  in  Principles ;  Thought,  Insight,  System ;  these,  had 
the  good  Bishop  lived  in  our  times,  would  have  been  his  De- 
siderata, and  the  theme  of  his  Complaints.  "We  yva.nt think- 
ing Souls,  we  2va7it  themP 

This  and  the  three  preceding  extracts  will  suffice  as  precau- 
tionary Aphorisms.  And  here  again,  the  Reader  may  exem- 
plify the  great  advantages  to  be  obtained  fiom  the  habit  of  tra- 
cing the  proper  meaning  and  history  of  Words.  We  need 
only  recollect  the  common  and  idiomatic  phrases  in  which  the 
word  "  Spirit"  occurs  in  a  physical  or  material  sense  (ex.  gr. 
fruit  has  lost  its  spirit  and  flavour),  to  be  convinced  that  its 
property  is  to  improve,  enliven,  actuate  some  other  thing,  not 
to  be  or  constitute  a  thing  in  its  own  name.  The  enthusiast 
may  find  one  exception  to  this  where  the  material  itself  is 
called  Spirit.  And  when  he  calls  to  mind,  how  this  spirit  acts 
when  taken  alone  by  the  unhappy  persons  who  in  their  first 
exultation  will  boast  that  it  is  Meat,  Drink,  Fire,  and  Clo- 
thing to  them,  all  in  one — when  he  reflects  that  its  properties 
are  to  inflame,  intoxicate,  madden,  with  exhaustion,  lethargy, 
and  atrophy  for  the  Sequels — well  for  him,  if  in  some  lucid 
interval  he  should  fairly  put  the  question  to  his  own  mind, 
how  far  this  is  analogous  to  his  own  case,  and  whether  the 
Exception  does  not  confirm  the  Rule.  The  Letter  without 
the  Spirit  killeth ;  but  docs  it  follow,  that  the  Spirit  is  to  kill 
the  Letter  ?  To  kill  that  which  it  is  its  appropriate  oflice  to 
enliven  ? 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL.    RELIGION.  101 

However,  where  the  Ministry  is  not  invaded,  and  the  plain 
sense  of  the  Scriptures  is  left  undisturbed,  and  the  Believer 
looks  for  the  suggestion  of  the  Spirit  only  or  chiefly  in  apply- 
ing particular  passages  to  his  own  individual  case  and  exigen- 
cies ;  though  in  this  there  may  be  much  weakness,  some  de- 
lusion and  imminent  Danger  of  more,  I  cannot  but  join  with 
Henry  More  in  avowing,  that  I  feel  knit  to  such  a  man  in  the 
bonds  of  a  common  faith  far  more  closely,  than  to  those  who 
receive  neither  the  Letter,  nor  the  Spirit,  turning  the  one  into 
metaphor  and  oriental  hyperbole,  in  order  to  explain  away  the 
other  into  the  influence  of  motives  suggested  by  their  own 
understandings,  and  realized  by  their  own  strength. 


APHORISMS 

ON    THAT 

WHICH  IS  INDEED  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION. 


In  the  selection  of  the  Extracts  that  form  the  remainder  of 
this  Volume  and  of  the  Comments  affixed,  the  Editor  had  the 
following  Objects  principally  in  view.  First,  to  exhibit  the 
true  and  scriptural  meaning  and  intent  of  several  Articles  of 
Faith,  that  are  rightly  classed  among  the  Mysteries  and  pecu- 
liar Doctrines  of  Christianity.  Secondly,  to  show  the  perfect 
rationality  of  these  Doctrines,  and  their  freedom  from  all  just 
Objection  when  examined  by  their  proper  Organ,  the  Reason 
and  Conscience  of  Man.  Lastly,  to  exhibit  from  the  Works 
of  Leighton,  who  perhaps  of  all  our  learned  protestant  The- 
ologians best  deserves  the  title  of  a  Spiritual  Divine,  an  in- 
structive and  affecting  picture  of  the  contemplations,  reflec- 
tions, conflicts,  consolations  and  monitory  experiences  of  a 
philosophic  and  richly-gifted  mind,  amply  stored  with  all  the 
knowledge  that  Books  and  long  intercourse  with  men  of  the 
most  discordant  characters  can  give,  under  the  convictions, 
impressions,  and  habits  of  a  Spiritual  Religion. 

To  obviate  a  possible  disappointment  in  any  of  my  Readers, 
who  may  chance  to  be  engaged  in  theological  studies,  it  may 
be  well  to  notice,  that  in  vindicating  the  peculiar  tenets  of  our 
Faith,  I  have  not  entered  on  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  or 
the  still  profounder  Mystery  of  the  Origin  of  Moral  Evil — 
and  this  for  the  reasons  following :  1 .  These  Doctrines  are 
not    (strictly   speaking)  subjects  of  Reflection,  in   the  proper 


104  AIDS   TO   REFLECTION. 

sense  of  this   word  :  and  both  of  them  demand  a  power   and 
persistency   of  Abstraction,   and  a   previous  discipline  in  the 
highest  forms  of  human   thought,  which  it   would  be  unwise, 
if  not  presumptuous,  to  expect   from  any,  who  require  "  Aids 
to  Reflection,"  or  would  be  likely  to  seek  them  in  the  present 
Work.     2.  In  my  intercourse  with   men  of  various  ranks  and 
ages,  I  have  found  the  far  larger  number  of  serious  and  inqui- 
ring Persons   little  if  at   all  disquieted  by   doubts  respecting 
Articles  of  Faith,  that  are  simply  above  their  comprehension. 
It  is  only  where  the    Belief  required  of  them  jars  with  their 
moral  feelings ;  where  a  doctrine  in  the  sense,  in  which  they 
have  been   taught   to  receive  it,  appears  to   contradict   their 
clear  notions  of  Right  and  Wrong,    or  to  be  at  variance  with 
the  divine  Attributes  of  Goodness  and  Justice ;  that  these  men 
are    surprised,  perplexed,  and  alas !  not  seldom  offended  and 
alienated.     Such  are  the  Doctrines  of  Arbitrary  Election  and 
Reprobation ;    the    Sentence   to  everlasting   Torment  by  an 
eternal  and    necessitating  Decree  ;  vicarious  Atonement,    and 
the  necessity  of  the  Abasement,  Agony  and  ignominious  Death 
of  a  most  holy  and  meritorious  Person,  to  appease  the   Wrath 
of  God.     Now  it  is  more  especially  for  such  Persons,  unwil- 
ling Sceptics,  who   believing  earnestly  ask  help  for  their  un- 
belief, that   this  Volume  was   compiled,   and  the   Comments 
written :    and   therefore,  to  the  Scripture  doctrines,  intended 
by  the  above  mentioned,   my  principal  attention  has  been  di- 
rected. 

But  lastly,  the  whole  Scheme  of  the  Christian  Faith,  inclu- 
ding all  the  Articles  of  Belief  common  to  the  Greek  and  Lat- 
in, the  Roman  and  the  Protestant  Church,  with  the  threefold 
proof,  that  it  is  ideally ,  morally^  and  historically  true,  will  be 
found  exhibited  and  vindicated  in  a  proportionally  larger 
Work,  the  Principal  Labour  of  my  Life  since  Manhood,  and 
which  I  am  now  preparing  for  the  Press  under  the  title,  As- 
sertion of  Religion,  as  necessarily  involving  Revelation ;  and 
of  Christianity,  as  the  only  Revelation  of  permanent  and  uni- 
versal validity. 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  105 

APHORISM    I.  LEIGHTON. 

Where,  if  not  in  Christ,  is  the  Power  that  can  persuade  a 
Sinner  to  return,  that  can  bring  home  a  heart  to  God  9 

Common  mercies  of  God,  though  they  have  a  leading  fac- 
ulty to  repentance,  (Rom.  ii.  4.)  yet,  the  rebellious  heart  will 
not  be  led  by  them.  The  judgments  of  God,  public  or  per- 
sonal, though  they  ought  to  drive  us  to  God,  yet  the  heart, 
unchanged,  runs  the  further  from  God.  Do  we  not  see  it  by 
ourselves  and  other  sinners  about  us  ?  They  look  not  at  all 
towards  Him  who  smites,  much  less  do  they  return  ;  or  if  any 
more  serious  thoughts  of  returning  arise  upon  the  surprise  of 
an  affliction,  how  soon  vanish  they,  either  the  stroke  abating, 
or  the  heart,  by  time,  growing  hard  and  senseless  under  it ! 
Leave  Christ  out,  I  say,  and  all  other  means  work  not  this 
way ;  neither  the  works  nor  the  word  of  God  sounding  daily 
in  his  ear.  Return^  return.  Let  the  noise  of  the  rod  speak  it 
too,  and  both  join  together  to  make  the  cry  the  louder,  yet 
the  ivicked  tvill  do  wickedly^  Dan.  xii.  10. 

COMMENT. 

By  the  pln-ase  "in  Christ,"  I  mean  all  the  supernatural  Aids 
vouchsafed  and  conditionally  promised  in  the  Christian  Dis- 
pensation :  and  among  them  the  Spiiit  of  Truth,  which  the 
world  cannot  receive,  were  it  only  that  the  knowledge  of 
spiritucd  Truth  is  of  necessity  immediate  and  intuitive :  and 
the  World  or  Natural  Man  possesses  no  higher  intuitions  than 
those  of  the  pure  Sense^  which  are  the  subjects  of  Mathemat- 
ical Science.  But  Aids^  observe  !  Therefore,  not  hy  the 
Will  of  Man  alone  ;  but  neither  ivithout  the  Will.  The  doc- 
trine of  modern  Calvinism,  as  laid  down  by  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards and  the  late  Dr.  Williams,  which  represents  a  Will  ab- 
solutely passive,  clay  in  the  hands  of  a  Potter,  destroys  all  Will, 
takes  away  its  essence  and  definition,  as  effectually  as  in  say- 
ing— This  Circle  is  square — I  should  deny  the  figure  to  be  a 
Circle  at  all.  It  was  in  strict  consistency  therefore,  that  these 
Writers  supported  the  Necessitarian  Scheme,  and  nuade   the 

14 


106  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

relation  of  Cause  and  Effect  the  Law  of  tlie  Universe,  sul^- 
jecting  to  its  Mechanism  the  moral  World  no  less  than  the  ma- 
terial or  physical.  It  follows,  that  all  is  Nature  [45].  Thus, 
though  few  writers  use  the  term  Spirit  more  frequently,  they 
in  effect  deny  its  existence,  and  evacuate  the  term  of  all  its 
proper  meaning.  With  such  a  system  not  the  Wit  of  Man 
nor  all  the  Theodices  ever  framed  by  human  ingenuity,  before 
and  since  the  attempt  of  the  celebrated  Leibnitz,  can  recon- 
cile the  Sense  of  Responsibility,  nor  the  fact  of  the  difference 
in  kmd  between  regret  and  remorse.  The  same  compul- 
sion of  Consequence  drove  the  Fathers  of  Modern  (or  Pseu- 
do-)Calvinism  to  the  origination  of  Holiness  in  Power,  of  Jus- 
tice in  Right  of  Property,  and  whatever  outrages  on  the  com- 
mon sense  and  moral  feelings  of  Mankind  they  have  sought  to 
cover,  under  the  fair  name  of  Sovereign  Grace. 

I  will  not  take  on  me  to  defend  sundry  harsh  and  inconven- 
ient Expressions  in  the  Works  of  Calvin.  Phrases  equally 
strong  and  Assertions  not  less  rash  and  startling  are  no  rari- 
ties in  the  Writings  of  Luther :  for  Catachresis  was  the  fa- 
vourite Figure  of  Speech  in  that  age.  But  let  not  the  opin- 
ions of  either  on  this  most  fundamental  Subject  be  confound- 
ed with  the  New-England  System,  now  entitled  Calvinistic. 
The  fact  is  simply  this.  Luther  considered  the  Pretensions 
to  Free-will  boastful^  and  better  suited  to  the  budge  Doctors 
of  the  Stoic  Fur,  than  to  the  Preachers  of  the  Gospel,  whose 
great  Theme  is  the  Redemption  of  the  Will  from  Slavery; 
the  restoration  of  the  Will  to  perfect  Freedom  being  the  end 
and  consummation  of  the  redemptive  Process,  and  the  same 
with  the  entrance  of  the  Soul  into  Glory,  t.  e.  its  union  with 
Christ :  "glory"  (John  xvii.  5.)  being  one  of  the  names  of 
the  Spiritual  Messiah.  Prospectively  to  this  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  words  of  our  Lord,  At  that  day  ye  shall  know  that 
I  am  in  my  Father,  and  ye  in  me,  John  xiv.  20 ;  the  freedom 
of  a  finite  will  being  possible  under  this  condition  only,  that  it 
has  become  one  with  the  will  of  God.  Now  as  the  difference 
of  a  captive  and  enslaved  Will,  and  no  Will  at  all,  such,  is  the 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  107 

difference   between  the  Lutheranism  of  Calvin  and  the  Cal- 
vinism of  Jonathan  Edwards. 

APHORISM    II.  LEIGHTON. 

There  is  nothing  in  religion  farther  out  of  Nature's  reach, 
and  more  remote  from  the  natural  man's  liking  and  believing, 
than  the  doctrine  of  Redemption  by  a  Saviour,  and  by  a  cru- 
cified Saviour.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to  persuade  men  of 
the  necessity  of  an  amendment  of  conduct ;  it  is  more  diffi- 
cult to  make  them  see  the  necess'ty  of  Repentance  in  the 
Gospel  sense,  the  necessity  of  a  change  in  the  principle  of  ac- 
tion ;  but  to  convince  men  of  the  necessity  of  the  Death  of 
Christ  is  the  most  difficult  of  all.  And  yd  the  first  is  but 
varnish  and  white-wash  without  the  second  ;  and  the  second 
but  a  barren  notion  without  the  last.  Alas  !  of  those  who  ad- 
mit the  doctrine  in  words,  how  large  a  number  evade  it  in  fact 
and  empty  it  of  all  its  substance  and  efficacy,  making  the  effect 
the  efficient  cause,  or  attributing  their  election  to  vSalvation  to 
a  supposed  Foresight  of  their  Faith,  and  Obedience.  But  it  is 
most  vain  to  imagine  a  faith  in  such  and  such  men,  which  be- 
ing foreseen  by  God,  determined  him  to  elect  them  for  salva- 
tion ;  were  it  only  that  nothing  at  all  is  future^  or  can  have 
this  imagined  fufurition^  but  as  it  is  decreed^  and  because  it  is 
decreed  by  God  so  to  be. 

COMMENT. 

No  impartial  person,  competently  acquainted  with  the  His- 
tory <jf  the  Reformation,  and  the  works  of  the  earlier  protest- 
ant  Divines  at  home  and  abroad,  even  to  the  close  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign,  will  deny  that  the  Doctrines  of  Calvin  on  Re- 
demption and  the  natural  state  of  fallen  man,  are  in  all  essen- 
tial points  the  same  as  those  of  Luther,  Zuinglius,  and  the 
first  reformers  collectively.  These  doctrines  have,  however, 
since  the  re-establishment  of  the  Episcopal  Church  at  the  re- 
turn of  the  second  Charles,  been  as  generally  [46]  exchanged 
for  what  is  commonly  entitled  Arminianism,  but  which,  taken 
as  a  complete  and  explicit  Scheme  ol  Relief,  it  would  be  both 


108 


AIDS    TO    KEFLECTION. 


historically  and  theologically  more  accurate  to  call  Grotianism^ 
or  Christianity  according  to  Grotius.  The  change  was  not,  we 
may  readily  believe,  effected  without  a  struggle.  In  the  Ro- 
mish Church  this  latitudinarian  System,  patronized  by  the  Je- 
suits, was  manfully  resisted  by  Jansenius,  Arnauld,  and  Pas- 
cal ;  in  our  own  Church  by  the  Bishops  Davenant,  Sanderson, 
Hall,  and  the  Archbishops  Usher  and  Leighton :  and  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  preceding  Aphorism  the  Reader  has  a  spe- 
cimen  of  the  reasonings  by  which  Leighton  strove  to  invalidate 
or  counterpoise  the  reasonings  of  the  Innovators. 

Passages  of  this  sort  are,  however,  of  rare  occurrence  in 
Leighton's  works.  Happily  for  thousands,  he  was  more  use- 
fully employed  in  making  his  Readers  feel,  that  the  Doctrines 
in  question,  scripturally  treated^  and  taken  as  co-organized 
parts  of  a  great  organic  whole^  need  no  such  reasonings. 
And  better  still  would  it  have  been,  had  he  left  them  altogeth- 
er for  those,  who  severally  detaching  the  great  Features  of 
Revelation  from  the  living  Context  of  Scripture,  do  by  that 
very  act  destroy  their  life  and  purpose.  And  then,  like  the 
eyes  of  the  Aranea  prodigiosa[47]  they  become  clouded  micro- 
scopes, to  exaggerate  and  distort  all  the  other  parts  and  propor- 
tions. No  offence  will  be  occasioned,  I  trust,  by  the  frank 
avowal  that  I  have  given  to  the  preceding  passage  a  place 
among  the  Spiritual  Aphorisms  for  the  sake  of  the  Comment : 
the  following  Remark  having  been  the  first  marginal  Note  I 
had  pencilled  on  Leighton's  Pages,  and  thus,  (remotely,  at 
least),  the  occasion  of  the  present  Work. 

Leighton,  I  observed,  throughout  his  inestimable  Work, 
avoids  all  metaphysical  views  of  Election,  relatively  to  God, 
and  confines  himself  to  the  Doctrine  in  its  relation  to  Man  : 
and  in  that  sense  too,  in  which  every  Christian  may  judge  who 
strives  to  be  sincere  with  his  own  heart.  The  following  may, 
I  think,  be  taken  as  a  safe  and  useful  Rule  in  religious  inqui- 
ries. Ideas,  that  derive  their  origin  and  substance  from  the 
Moral  Being,  and  to  the  reception  of  which  as  true  objectivc- 
lij  {i.  e.  as  corresponding  to  a  reality  out  of  the  human  mind) 
we  are    dete»  jviincd  by  a  practical  interest  exclusively,    may 


APHORISMS  ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  109 

not,  like  theoretical  or  speculative  Positions,  be  pressed  on- 
ward into  all  their  possible  logical  consequences.  The  Law 
of  Conscience,  and  not  the  Canons  of  discursive  Reasoning, /f 
must  decide  in  such  cases.  At  least,  the  latter  has  no  validi- 
ty, which  the  single  Veto  of  the  former  is  not  sufficient  to  nul- 
lify.    The  most  pious  conclusion  is  here  the  most  legitimate. 

It  is  too  seldom  considered,  though   most  worthy  of  consid- 
eration, how  far  even  those  Ideas  or   Theories  of  pure  Spec- 
ulation, that  bear  the  same  name  with  the  Objects  of  Religious 
Faith,  are  indeed  the  same.     Out  of  the  principles  necessari- 
ly presumed  in   all  discursive  Thinking,  and  which  being,   in 
the  first  place,  universal^  and   secondly,  antecedent  to  every 
particular  exercise  of  the  Understanding,  are  therefore  refer- 
red to  the  Reason,  the  human  Mind  (wherever  its  powers  are 
sufficiently  developed,   and  its   attention  strongly  directed   to 
speculative  or   theoretical  inquiries),  forms  certain  Essences, 
to  which  for  its  own  purposes  it  gives  a  sort  of  notional  Sub- 
sistence.    Hence  they  are  called  Entia  rationalia :   the  con- 
version of  which  into  Entia  realia^  or   real  Objects,  by  aid  of 
the    Imagination,  has   in  all   times   been  the   fruitful  stock  of     ^ 
empty  Theories,  and   mischievous   Superstitions,  of  surrepti- 
tious Premises  and    extravagant    Conclusions.     For  as  these 
substantiated  Notions  were  in  many   instances  expressed  by 
the  same  terms,  as  the  objects  of  religious  Faith ;  as  in  most 
instances  they  were   applied,  though  deceptively,  to  the  ex- 
planation of  real   experiences  ;  and  lastly,  from  the  gratifica- 
tions, which  the  pride  and  ambition  of  man  received  from  the 
supposed  extension  of  his  Knowledge    and  Insight   it  was  too 
easily  forgotten  or  overlooked,  that  the  stablest  and  most  in- 
dispensable of  these  notional  Beings  were  but  the  necessary 
forms   of  Thinking,  taken   abstractedly  :  and   that   like    the 
breadthless  Lines,  depthless    Surfaces,  and  perfect  Circles   of 
Geometry,  they  subsist  wholly  and  solely  in  and  for  the  Mind, 
that  contemplates  them.     Where  the    evidence  of  the  Senses 
fails  us,  and  beyond  the  precincts  of  sensible  experience,  there 
is  no  Reality  attributable  to  any   Notion,  but  what  is  given  to 


110  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

it  by  Revelation,  or  the  Law  of  Conscience,  or  the  necessary 
interests  of  Morality. 

Take  an  instance : 

It  is  the  office,  and  as  it  were,  the  instinct  of  Reason  to 
bring  a  unity  into  all  our  conceptions  and  several  knowledges. 
On  this  all  system  depends  :  and  without  this  we  could  reflect 
connectedly  neither  on  nature  or  our  own  minds.  Now  this 
is  possible  only  on  the  assumption  or  hypothesis  of  a  one  as 
the  ground  and  cause  of  the  Universe,  and  which  in  all  suc- 
cession and  through  all  changes  is  the  subject  neither  of  Time 
or  Change.  The  one  must  be  contemplated  as  Eternal  and  - 
Immutable. 

Well !  the  Idea,  which  is  the  basis  of  Religion,  commanded 
by  the  Conscience  and  required  by  Morality,  contains  the 
same  truths,  or  at  least  Truths  that  can  be  expressed  in  no 
other  terms  ;  but  this  idea  presents  itself  to  our  mind  with  ad- 
ditional Attributes,  and  these  too  not  formed  by  mere  Abstrac- 
tion and  Negation,  with  the  Attributes  of  Holiness,  Providence, 
Love,  Justice,  and  Mercy.  It  comprehends,  moreover,  the  ^ 
independent  (extra-mundane)  existence  and  personality  of  _ 
the  supreme  one,  as  our  Creator,  Lord,  and  Judge. 

The  hypothesis  of  a  one  Ground  and  Principle  of  the  Uni- 
verse ( necessary  as  an  hypothesis  ;  but  having  only  a  logical 
and  conditional  necessity)  is  thus  raised  into  the  idea  of  the 
LIVING  GOD,  the  supreme  Object  of  our  Faith,  Love,  Fear, 
and  Adoration.  Religion  and  Morality  do  indeed  constrain  us 
to  declare  him  Eternal  and  Immutable.  But  if  from  the  Eter- 
nity of  the  Supreme  Being  a  Reasoncr  should^  deduce  the 
impossibility  of  a  Creation;  or  conclude  with  Aristotle,  that 
the  Creation  was  co-eternal;  or,  like  the  later  Platonists, 
should  turn  Creation  into  Emanation^  and  make  the  universe 
proceed  from  Deity,  as  the  Sunbeams  from  the  Solar  Orb ; — 
or  if  from  the  divine  Immutability  he  should  infer,  that  all 
Prayer  and  Supplication  must  be  vain  and  superstitious :  then 
however  ev  ident  and  logically  necessary  such  conclusions  may 
appear,  it  is  scarcely  worth  our  while  to  examine,  whether 
they  are  bo  or  not.     The  Position;?  themselves  must  be  fabe. 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  Ill 

For  were  they  true,  the  idea  would  lose  the  sole  ground  of  its 
reality.  It  would  be  no  longer  the  Idea  intended  by  the  Be- 
liever in  his  premise — in  the  Premise,  with  which  alone  Re- 
ligion and  Morality  are  concerned.  The  very  subject  of  the 
discussion  would  be  changed.  It  would  no  longer  be  the  God 
in  whom  we  believe  ;  but  a  stoical  fate,  or  the  superessential 
ONE  of  Plotinus,  to  whom  neither  Intelligence,  or  Self-con- 
sciousness, or  Life,  or  even  Being  dare  be  attributed  :  or  last- 
ly, the  World  itself,  the  indivisible  one  and  only  substance 
(substantia  una  et  unica)  of  Spinoza,  of  which  all  Phenome- 
na, all  particular  and  individual  Things,  Lives,  Minds,  Thoughts 
and  Actions  are  but  modifications. 

Let  the  Believer  never  be  alarmed  by  Objections  wholly 
speculative,  however  plausible  on  speculative  grounds  such 
objections  may  appear,  if  he  can  but  satisfy  himself,  that  the 
Result  is  repugnant  to  the  dictates  of  Conscience,  and  irre- 
concilable with  the  interests  of  Morality.  For  to  baffle  the 
Objector  we  have  only  to  demand  of  him,  by  what  right  and 
under  w<hat  authority  he  converts  a  Thought  into  a  Substance, 
or  asserts  the  existence  of  a  real  somewhat  corresponding  to  a 
Notion  not  derived  from  the  experience  of  his  Senses.  It 
will  be  of  no  purpose  for  him  to  answer,  that  it  is  a  legitimate 
Notion.  The  Notion  may  have  its  mould  in  the  understand- 
ing ;  but  its  realization  must  be  the  work  of  the  fancy. 

A  reflecting  Reader  will  easily  apply  these  remarks  to  the 
subject  of  Election,  one  of  the  stumbling  stones  in  the  ordi- 
nary conceptions  of  the  Christian  Faith,  to  which  the  Infidel 
points  in  scorn,  and  which  far  better  men  pass  by  in  silent  per- 
plexity. Yet  surely,  from  mistaken  conceptions  of  the  Doc- 
trine. I  suppose  the  person,  with  w^hom  I  am  arguing,  already 
so  far  a  believer,  as  to  have  convinced  himself,  both  that  a 
state  of  enduring  bliss  is  attainable  under  certain  conditions  ; 
and  that  these  conditions  consist  in  his  compliance  with  the 
directions  given  and  rules  prescribed  in  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures. These  rules  he  likewise  admits  to  be  such,  that,  by 
the  very  law  and  constitution  of  the  human  mind,  a  full  and 
faithful  compliance   with  them  cannot  hut  have  consequences: 


112  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

of  some  sort  or  other.  But  these  consequences  are  moreover 
distinctly  described,  enumerated  and  promised  in  the  same 
Scriptures,  in  which  the  conditions  are  recorded  ;  and  though 
some  of  them  may  be  apparent  to  God  only,  yet  the  greater 
number  are  of  such  a  nature  that  they  cannot  exist  unknown 
to  the  Individual,  in  and  for  whom  they  exist.  As  little  possi- 
ble is  it,  that  he  should  find  these  consequences  in  himself,  and 
not  find  in  them  the  sure  marks  and  the  safe  pledges,  that  he 
is  at  the  time  in  the  right  road  to  the  Life  promised  under  these 
conditions.  Now  I  dare  assert,  that  no  such  man,  however 
fervent  his  charity,  and  however  deep  his  humility,  may  be, 
can  peruse  the  records  of  History  wit!y  a  reflecting  spirit,  or 
"  look  round  the  world"  with  an  observant  eye,  and  not  find 
himself  compelled  to  admit,  that  all  men  are  not  on  the  right 
Road.  He  cannot  help  judging,  that  even  in  Christian  coun- 
tries Many,  a  fearful  Many  !  have  not  their  faces  turned  to- 
ward it. 

This  then  is  mere  matter  of  fact.  Now  comes  the  ques- 
tion. Shall  the  Believer,  who  thus  hopes  on  the  appointed 
grounds  of  Hope,  attribute  this  distinction  exclusively  to  his 
own  resolves  and  strivings  ?  or  if  not  exclusively  yet  primari- 
ly and  principally  ?  Shall  he  refer  the  first  movements  and 
preparations  to  his  own  Will  and  Understanding,  and  bottom 
his  claim  to  the  Promises  on  his  own  comparative  excellence  ? 
If  not,  if  no  man  dare  take  this  honour  to  himself,  to  whom 
shall  he  assip,n  it,  if  not  to  that  Being  in  whom  the  Promise 
originated  and  on  whom  its  Fulfilment  depends  ?  If  he  stop 
here,  who  shall  blame  him  ?  By  what  argument  shall  his  rea- 
soning be  invalidated,  that  might  not  be  urged  with  equal 
force  against  any  essential  difference  between  Obedient  and 
Disobedient,  Christian  and  Worldling,  that  would  not  imply 
that  both  soi'ts  alike  are,  in  the  sight  of  God,  the  sons  of  God 
by  adoption  ?  If  he  stop  here,  who  shall  drive  him  from  his 
position  ?  For  thus  far  he  is  practically  concerned — this  the 
Conscience  requires,  this  the  highest  interests  of  Morality  de- 
mand. It  is  a  question  of  Facts,  of  the  Will  and  the  Deed, 
to  argue  against  which  on  the  abstract  notions  and  possibilities 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  113 

of  the  speculative  Reason  is  as  unreasonable,  as  an  attempt  to 
decide  a  question  of  Colours  by  pure  Geometry,  or  to  unsettle 
the  classes  and  specific  characters  of  Natural  History  by  the 
Doctrine  of  Fhixions. 

But  if  the  self-examinant  will  abandon  this  position,  and. 
exchange  the  safe  circle  of  Religion  and  practical  Reason  for 
the  shifting  Sand- wastes  and  Mirages  of  Speculative  Theolo- 
gy ;  if  instead  of  seeking  after  the  marks  of  Election  in  him- 
self he  undertakes  to  determine  the  ground  and  origin,  the 
possibility  and  mode  of  Election  itself  in  relation  to  God  ;— 
in  this  case,  and  whether  he  does  it  for  the  satisfaction  of  cu- 
riosity, or  from  the  ambition  of  answering  those,  who  would 
call  God  himself  to  account,  why  and  by  what  right  certain 
Souls  were  born  in  Africa  instead  of  England  ?  or  why  (see- 
ing that  it  is  against  all  reason  and  goodness  to  choose  a  worse 
when  being  omnipotent  he  could  have  created  a  better)  God 
did  not  create  Beasts  Men,  and  Men  Angels  ?  or  why  God 
created  any  men  but  with  pre-knowledge  of  their  obedience, 
and  why  he  left  any  occasion  for  Election  ? — in  this  case,  I 
say,  we  can  only  regret,  that  the  Inquirer  had  not  been  better 
instructed  in  the  nature,  the  bounds,  the  true  purposes  and 
proper  objects  of  his  intellectual  faculties,  and  that  he  had  not 
previously  asked  himself,  by  what  appropriate  Sense,  or  Or- 
gan of  Knowledge,  he  hoped  to  secure  an  insight  into  a  Na- 
ture w^hich  was  neither  an  Object  of  his  Senses,  nor  a  part  of 
his  Self-consciousness !  and  so  leave  him  to  ward  off  shadowy 
Spears  with  the  shadow  of  a  Shield,  and  to  retaliate  the  non- 
sense of  Blasphemy  with  the  Abracadabra  of  Presumption. 
He  that  will  fly  without  wings  must  fly  in  his  dreams  ;  and  till 
he  awakes,  will  not  find  out,  that  to  fly  in  a  dream  is  but  to 
dream  of  flying. 

Thus  then  the  Doctrine  of  Election  is  in  itself  a  necessary 
inference  from  an  undeniable  fact — necessary  at  least  for  ail 
who  hold  that  the  best  of  Men  are  what  they  are  through  the 
grace  of  God.  In  relation  to  the  Believer  it  is  a  i/o/je,  which 
if  it  spring  out  of  Christian  Principles,  be  examined  by  the 
tests  and  nourished  by  the  means  prescribed  in  Scripture,  will 

15 


114  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

become  a  lively,  an  assured  Hope,  but  which  cannot  in  this 
life  pass  into  knowledge,  much  less  certainty  of  Fore-knowl- 
edge. The  contrary  belief  does  indeed  make  the  article  of 
Election  both  tool  and  parcel  of  a  mad  and  mischievous  fanati- 
cism. But  with  what  force  and  clearness  does  not  the  Apos- 
tle confute,  disclaim,  and  prohibit  the  pretence,  treating  it  as 
a  downwright  contradiction  in  terms !  See  Rom.  viii.  24. 

But  though  I  hold  the  doctrine  handled  as  Leighton  han- 
dles it  (that  is  practically,  morally,  humanly)  rational,  safe, 
and  of  essential  importance,  1  see  many  [48]  reasons  resulting 
from  the  peculiar  circumstances,  under  which  St.  Paul  prea- 
ched and  wrote,  why  a  discreet  Minister  of  the  Gospel  should 
avoid  the  frequent  use  of  the  term,  and  express  the  meaning 
in  other  words  perfectly  equivalent  and  equally  scriptural :  lest 
in  saying  truth  he  might  convey  error. 

Had  my  purpose  been  confined  to  one  particular  Tenet,  an 
apology  might  be  required  for  so  long  a  Comment.  But  the 
Reader  will,  I  trust,  have  already  perceived,  that  my  object 
has  been  to  establish  a  general  Rule  of  interpretation  and  vin- 
dication applicable  to  all  doctrinal  Tenets,  and  especially  to 
the  ( so  called )  Mysteries  of  the  Christian  Faith  :  to  provide 
a  Safety-lamp  for  religious  inquirers.  Now  this  I  find  in  the 
principle,  that  all  revealed  Truths  are  to  be  judged  of  by  us, 
as  far  as  they  are  possible  subjects  of  human  Conception,  or 
grounds  of  Practice,  or  in  some  way  connected  with  our  mo- 
ral and  spiritual  Interests.  In  order  to  have  a  reason  for  for- 
ming a  judgment  on  any  given  article,  we  must  be  sure  that 
we  possess  a  Reason,  by  and  according  to  which  a  judgment 
may  be  formed.  Now  in  respect  of  all  Truths,  to  which  a 
real  independent  existence  is  assigned,  and  which  yet  are  not 
contained  in,  or  to  be  imagined  under,  any  form  of  Space  or 
Time,  it  is  strictly  demonstrable,  that  the  human  Reason,  con- 
sidered abstractly  as  the  source  of  positive  Science  and  theo- 
retical Insight,  is  not  such  a  Reason.  At  the  utmost,  it  has 
only  a  negative  voice.  In  other  words,  nothing  can  be  allow- 
ed as  true  for  the  human  Mind,  which  directly  contradicts  this 
Reason.     But   even  here,  before  we  admit  the  existence  of 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL,    RELIGION.  115 

any  such  contradiction,  we  must  be  careful  to  ascertain,  that 
there  is  no  equivocation  in  play,  that  two  different  subjects 
are  not  confounded  under  one  and  the  same  word.  A  striking 
instance  of  this  has  been  adduced  in  the  difference  between 
the  notional  One  of  the  Ontologists,  and  the  idea  of  the  Liv- 
ing God. 

But  if  not  the  abstractor  speculative  Reason,  and  yet  area- 
son  there  must  be  in  order  to  a  rational  Belief — then  it  must 
be  the  Practical  Reason  of  Man,  comprehending  the  Will,  the 
Conscience,  the  Moral  Being  with  its  inseparable  Interests 
and  Affections — that  Reason,  namely,  which  is  the  Organ  of 
Wisdom^  and  (as  far  as  Man  is  concerned)  the  Source  of  liv- 
ing and  actual  Truths. 

From  these  premises  we  may  further  deduce,  that  every 
doctrine  is  to  be  interpreted  in  reference  to  those,  to  whom 
it  has  been  revealed,  or  who  have  or  have  had  the  means  of 
knowing  or  hearing  the  same.  For  instance :  the  Doctrine 
that  there  is  no  name  under  Heaven,  by  which  a  man  can  be 
saved,  but  the  name  of  Jesus.  If  the  word  here  rendered 
Name^  may  be  understood  (as  it  well  may,  and  as  in  other 
texts  it  must  be)  as  meaning  the  Power,  or  originating  Cause, 
I  see  no  objection  on  the  part  of  the  Practical  Reason  to  our 
belief  of  the  declaration  in  its  whole  extent.  It  is  true  uni- 
versally or  not  true  at  all.  If  there  be  any  redemptive  pow- 
er not  contained  in  the  Power  of  Jesus,  then  Jesus  is  not  the 
Redeemer:  not  the  redeemer  of  the  World,  not  the  Jesus  (i. 
e.  Saviour)  of  Mankind.  But  if  with  Tertullian  and  Augus- 
tin  we  make  the  Text  assert  the  condemnation  and  misery  of 
all  who  are  not  Christians  by  Baptism  and  explicit  Belief  in 
the  Revelation  of  the  New  Covenant — then  I  say,  the  doc- 
trine is  true  to  all  intents  and  piiryoses.  It  is  true,  in  every 
respect,  in  which  any  practical,  moral,  or  spiritual  Interest  or 
End  can  be  connected  with  its  truth.  It  is  true  in  respect  to 
every  man  who  has  had,  or  who  might  have  had,  the  Gospel 
preached  to  him.  It  is  true  and  obligatory  for  every  Chris- 
tian community  and  for  every  individual  Believer,  wherever 
the  opportunity  is  afforded  of  spreading  the  Light  of  the  Gos- 


J16 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


pel  and  making  known  the  name  of  the  only  Saviour  and  Re- 
deemer. For  even  though  the  uninformed  Heathens  should 
not  perish,  the  guilt  of  their  Perishing  will  attach  to  those 
who  not  only  had  no  certainty  of  their  safety,  but  who  were 
commanded  to  act  on  the  supposition  of  the  contrary.  But  if 
on  the  other  hand,  a  theological  Dogmatist  should  attempt  to 
persuade  me,  that  this  Text  was  intended  to  give  us  an  histor- 
ical knowledge  of  God's  future  Actions  and  Dealings — -and 
for  the  gratification  of  our  curiosity  to  inform  us,  that  Socrates 
and  Phocion,  together  with  all  the  Savages  in  the  untravelled 
Woods  and  Wilds  of  Africa  and  America,  will  be  sent  to  keep 
company  with  the  Devil  and  his  Angels  in  everlasting  Tor- 
ments— I  should  remind  him,  that  the  purpose  of  Scripture 
was  to  teach  us  our  duty,  not  to  enable  us  to  sit  in  Judgment 
on  the  souls  of  our  fellow  creatures. 

One  other  instance  will,  I  trust,  prevent  all  misconception 
of  my  meaning.  I  am  clearly  convinced,  that  the  scriptural 
and  only  true [49]  Idea  of  God  will,  in  its  developement,  be 
found  to  involve  the  Idea  of  the  Triunity.  But  I  am  likewise 
convinced,  that  previous  to  the  promulgation  of  the  Gospel 
the  Doctrine  had  no  claim  on  the  Faith  of  Mankind :  though 
it  might  have  been  a  legitimate  contemplation  for  a  specula- 
tive philosopher,  a  Theorem  in  Metaphysics  valid  in  the 
Schools. 

I  form  a  certain  notion  in  my  mind,  and  say  :  this  is  what  / 
understand  by  the  term,  God.  From  books  and  conversation 
I  find,  that  the  Learned  generally  connect  the  same  notion 
with  the  same  word.  I  then  apply  the  Rules,  laid  down  by 
the  Masters  of  Logic,  for  the  involution  and  evolution  of  terms 
and  prove  ( to  as  many  as  agree  with  me  in  my  premises )  that 
the  Notion,  God,  involves  the  Notion,  Trinity.  I  now  pass 
out  of  the  Schools,  and  enter  into  discourse  with  some  friend 
or  neighbour,  unversed  in  the  formal  sciences,  unused  to  the 
processes  of  Abstraction,  neither  Logician  or  Metaphysician ; 
but  sensible  and  singleminded,  "  an  Israelite  indeed,"  trust- 
ing in  "  the  Lord  God  of  his  Fathers,  even  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, of  Isaac,  and  of  .lacob."     If  I  speak  of  God  to  Mm,  what 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL,    RELIGION.  117 

will  he  understand   me   to  be  speaking  of?     What   does  he 
mean,  and  suppose  me  to  mean,  by  the  word  ?     An  Accident 
or  Product  of  the  reasoning  faculty,  or  an  Abstraction  which 
the  human  Mind  makes  by  reflecting  on  its  own  thoughts  and 
forms  of  thinking  ?  No.    By  God  he  understands  me  to  mean 
an  existing  and  self-subsisting  reality  [50],  a  real  and  personal 
Being — even  the  Person^   the  i  am,  who    sent  Moses  to  his 
Forefathers  in  Egypt.     Of  the  actual  existence  of  this  divine 
Person  he  has  the  same  historical  assurance  as  of  theirs  ;  con- 
firmed indeed  by  the    Book  of  Nature,  as  soon  and  as  far  as 
that  stronger  and  better  Light  has  taught  him  to  read  and  con- 
strue it — confirmed  by  it,  1  say,  but  not  derived  from  it.    Now 
by  what  right  can  I    require   this  Man  ( and    of  such  men  the 
great  majority  of  serious  Believers  consisted,  previous  to  the 
Light  of  the  Gospel)  to  receive  a  Notion  of  mine,  wholly  al- 
ien from  his  habits  of  thinking,  because  it  may  be  logicallyde- 
duced  from  another  Notion,  with  which  he  was  almost  as  little 
acquainted,  and  not   at  all  concerned  ?     Grant  for  a  moment, 
that  the  latter  (i.  e.  the  Notion,  with  which  I  first  set  out)  as 
soon  as  it  is  combined  with  the  assurance  of  a  corresponding 
Reality  becomes  identical  with  the  true  and  effective  Idea  of 
God  !     Grant,  that  in  thus  realizing  the  Notion  J  am  warran- 
ted by  Revelation,  the  Law  of  Conscience,  and  the  interests 
and  necessities  of  my  Moral  Being  !     Yet  by  what  authority, 
by  what  inducement,  am  I  entitled  to    attach  the  same  reality 
to  a  second  Notion,  a  Notion  drawn  from  a  Notion  ?  It  is  evi- 
dent, that  if  I  have  the   same  Right,  it  must  be  on  the  same 
grounds.     Revelation  must  have  assured  it,  my  conscience  re- 
quired it — or  in  some  way  or  other  I  must  have  an  interest  in 
this  belief.     It  must  concern  me,  as   a  moral  and  responsible 
Being.     Noav  these  grounds  were  first   given  in  the  Redemp- 
tion of  Mankind  by  Christ,  the  Saviour  and  Mediator  :  and  by 
the  utter  incompatibility   of  these  offices  with  a  mere   Crea- 
ture.    On  the  doctrine  of  Redemption  depends  the  Faith,  the 
Duty,  of  believing  in  the    Divinity  of  our  Lord.     And  this 
again  is  the  strongest  Ground   for  the  reality  of  that  Idea,  in 
which  alone  this  Divinity  can  be   received  without  breach  of 


118  AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 

the  faith  in   the  unity  of  the  Godhead.     But  such  is  the  Idea 
of  the  Trinity.     Strong  as  the   motives  are  that  induce  me  to 
defer  the  full  discussion  of  this   great  Article  of  the  Christian 
Creed,    I  cannot  withstand  the   request  of  several   Divines, 
whose  situation  and  extensive  services  entitle  them  to  the  ut- 
most deference,  that  I  should  so  far  deviate  from  my  first  in- 
tention as  at  least  to  indicate  the  point  on  which  I  stand,  and 
to  prevent  the  misconception   of  my  purpose  :  as  if  I  held  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  for  a  Truth  w  hich  Men  could  be  called 
on  to  believe   by  mere   force  of  Reasoning,  independently  of 
any  positive  Revelation,  In  short,  it  had  been  reported  in  cer- 
tain circles,  that  I  considered  this  doctrine  as  a  demonstrable 
part  of  the  Religion  of  Nature.     Now  though  it  might  be  suf- 
ficient to  say,  that   I  regard  the  very  phrase  "  Revealed  Reli- 
gion"  as  a  pleonasm,   inasmuch  as  a  religion  not  revealed  is, 
in  my  judgment,  no  religion  at  all ;  I  have  no  objection  to  an- 
nounce more  particularly   and  distinctly  what  I  do  and  what  I 
do  not  maintain   on  this  point :  provided  that  in  the  following 
paragraph,   with  this  view   inserted,  the  reader  will  look  for 
nothing  more  than  a  plain  statement  of  my   opinions.     The 
grounds  on  which  they  rest,  and  the  arguments  by  which  they 
are  to  be  vindicated,  are  for  another  place. 

I  hold  then,  it  is  true,  that  all  the  (so  called)  Demonstra- 
tions of  a  God  either  prove  too  little,  as  that  from  the  Order 
and  apparent  Purpose  in  Nature ;  or  too  much,  viz.  that  the 
World  is  itself  God  ;  or  they  clandestinely  involve  the  con- 
clusion in  the  Premises,  passing  off  the  mere  analysis  or  expli- 
cation of  an  Assertion  for  the  Proof  of  it — a  species  of  logical 
legerdemain  not  unlike  that  of  the  Jugglers  at  a  Fair,  who 
putting  into  their  mouths  what  seems  to  be  a  walnut,  draw  out 
a  score  yards  of  Ribbon.  On  this  sophism  rest  the  pretended 
"  Demonstrations  of  a  God"  grounded  on  the  Postulate  of  a 
First  Cause.  And  lastly  in  all  these  Demonstrations  the  au- 
thors presuppose  the  Idea  or  Conception  of  a  God  without  be- 
ing able  to  authenticate  it,  i.  e.  to  give  an  account  whence 
they  obtained  it.  For  it  is  clear,  that  the  proof  first  mention- 
ed and  the  most  natural   and  convincing  of  all  (the  Cosmolo- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  119 

gical  I  mean  or  that  from  the  Order  in  Nature )  presupposes 
the  Ontological — i.  e.  the  proof  of  a  God  from  the  necessity 
and  necessary  Objectivity  of  the  Idea.  If  the  latter  can  as- 
sure us  of  a  God  as  an  existing  Reality,  the  former  will  go  far 
to  prove  his  Power,  Wisdom  and  Benevolence.  All  this  I 
hold.  But  I  also  hold,  that  this  Truth,  the  hardest  to  demon- 
strate, is  the  one  which  of  all  others  least  needs  to  be  demon- 
strated ;  that  though  there  may  be  no  conclusive  demonstra- 
tions of  a  good,  wise,  living  and  personal  God,  there  are  so 
many  convincing  reasons  for  it,  within  and  without — a  grain  of 
sand  sufficing,  and  a  whole  universe  at  hand  to  echo  the  deci- 
sion ! — that  for  every  mind  not  devoid  of  all  reason,  and  despe- 
rately conscience-proof,  the  Truth  which  it  is  the  least  possi- 
ble to  prove,  it  is  little  less  than  impossible  not  to  believe  ! 
only  indeed  just  so  much  short  of  impossible,  as  to  leave  some 
room  for  the  will  and  the  moral  election,  and  thereby  to  keep 
it  a  truth  of  Rehgion,  and  the  possible  subject  of  a  Command- 
ment[51]. 

On  this  account  I  do  not  demand  of  a  Dm/,  that  he  should 
adopt  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  For  he  might  very  well 
be  justified  in  replying,  that  he  rejected  the  doctrine,  not  be- 
cause it  could  not  be  demonstrated^  nor  yet  on  the  score  of 
any  incomprehensibilities  and  seeming  contradictions  that 
might  be  objected  to  it,  as  knowing  that  these  might  be,  and 
in  fact  had  been,  urged  with  equal  force  against  a  personal 
God  under  any  form  capable  of  Love  and  Veneration ;  but 
because  he  had  not  the  same  theoretical  necessity,  the  same 
interests  and  instincts  of  Reason  for  the  one  hypothesis  as  for  the 
other.  It  is  not  enough,  the  Deist  might  justly  say,  that  there  is 
no  cogent  reason  why  I  should  not  believe  the  Trinity  :  you 
must   show  me  some  cogent  reason  why  I  should. 

But  the  case  is  quite  different  with  a  Christian,  who  accepts 
the  Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God,  yet  refuses  his  assent  to 
the  plainest  declarations  of#these  Scriptures,  and  explains 
away  the  most  express  texts  into  metaphor  and  hyperbole, 
because  the  literal  and  obvious  interpretation  is  (according  to 
his  notions)  absurd  and  contrary  to  reason.     He  is  bound   to 


120  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

show,  that  it  is  so  in  any  sense,  not  equally  applicable  to  the 
texts  asserting  the  Being,  Infinity,  and  Personality  of  God  the 
Father,  the  Eternal  and  Omnipresent  one,  who  created  the 
Heaven  and  the  Earth.  And  the  more  is  he  bound  to  do  this, 
and  the  greater  is  my  right  to  demand  it  of  him,  because  the 
doctrine  of  Redemption  from  Sin  supplies  the  Christian  with 
motives  and  reasons  for  the  divinity  of  the  Redeemer  far  more 
concerning  and  coercive  subjectively^  i.  e.  in  the  economy  of 
his  own  Soul,  than  are  all  the  inducements  that  can  influence 
the  Deist  objectively^  i,  e.  in  the  interpretation  of  Nature. 

Do  I  then  utterly  exclude  the  speculative  Reason  from  The- 
ology ?  No !  It  is  its  office  and  rightful  privilege  to  deter- 
mine on  the  negative  truth  of  whatever  we  are  required  to  be- 
lieve. The  Doctrine  must  not  contradict  diny  universal  prin- 
ciple :  for  this  would  be  a  Doctrine  that  contradicted  itself. 
Or  Philosophy  ?  No.  It  may  be  and  has  been  the  servant 
and  pioneer  of  Faith  by  convincing  the  mind,  that  a  doctrine 
is  cogitable,  that  the  soul  can  present  the  Idea  to  itself:  and 
that  if  we  determine  to  contemplate,  or  think  of,  the  subject 
at  all,  so  and  in  no  other  form  can  this  be  effected.  So  far 
are  both  Logic  and  Philosophy  to  be  received  and  trusted. 
But  the  diiiy^  and  in  some  cases  and  for  some  persons  even 
the  right,  of  thinking  on  subjects  beyond  the  bounds  of  sen- 
sible experience  ;  the  grounds  of  the  7'eal  truth  ;  the  Life,  the 
Substance,  the  Hope,  the  Love,  in  one  word,  the  Faith  ;  these 
are  Derivatives  from  the  practical,  moral,  and  spiritual  Nature 
and  Being  of  Man. 

APHORISM  III. 

That  Religion  is  designed  to  improve  the  nature  and  facul- 
ties of  Man,  in  order  to  the  right  governing  of  our  actions,  to 
the  securing  the  peace  and  progress,  external  and  internal,  of 
Individuals  and  of  Communities,  and  lastly,  to  the  rendering 
us  capable  of  a  more  perfect  state,  entitled  the  kingdom  of 
God,  to  which  the  present  Life  is  probationai'y — this  is  a  truth 
which  all  who  have  truth  only  in  view,  will  receive  on  its  own 
evidence.     If  such  then  be  the  main  end  of  Religion  altogeth- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  f^l 

er  (the  improvement  namely  of  our  nature  and  faculties),  it 
is  plain,  that  every  part  of  Religion  is  to  be  judged  by  its  re- 
lation to  this  main  end.  And  since  the  Christian  Scheme  is 
Religion  in  its  most  perfect  and  effective  Form,  a  revealed 
Religion,  and  therefore,  in  a  special  sense  proceeding  from 
that  being  who  made  us  and  knows  what  we  are,  of  course 
therefore  adapted  to  the  needs  and  capabilities  of  Human  Na- 
ture ;  nothing  can  be  a  part  of  this  holy  faith  that  is  not  duly 
proportioned  to  this  end.  Extracted  with  slight  alterations 
from  BurneVs  Preface  to  Vol.  ii.  of  the  Hist,  of  the  Refor- 
mation. 

COMMENT. 

This  Aphorism  should  be  borne  in  mind,  whenever  a  theo- 
logical Resolve  is  proposed  to  us  as  an  article  of  Faith.     Take, 
for  instance,  the  Determinations  passed  at  the  Synod  of  Dort, 
concerning  the  Absolute  Decrees  of  God   in  connexion  with 
his  Omniscience  and  Fore-knowledge.     Or  take  the  Decision 
in  the  Council   of  Trent  on  the  Difference  between  the   two 
kinds  of  Transubstantiation,  the  one  in  which  both   the  Sub- 
stance and  the  Accidents  are  changed,   the  same  matter  re- 
maining— as  in  the   conversion  of  Water   to  Wine    at  Cana : 
the  other,   in  which  the  Matter  and  Substance  are  changed, 
the  Accidents  remaining  unaltered,  as  in  the   Eucharist — this 
latter  being  Transubstantiation  par  eminence  !     Or  rather  take 
the  still  more  tremendous  Dogma,  that  it  is  indispensable  to 
a  saving  Faith  carefully  to  distinguish  the  one  kind    from  the 
other,  and  to  believe  both,  and  to  believe  the  necessity  of  be- 
lieving both   in  order  to    Salvation  !     For    each  or  either  of 
these  extra-scriptural   Articles  of  Faith  the  preceding  Apho- 
rism supplies  a  safe  criterion.     Will  the  belief  tend  to  the  im- 
provement of  any  of  my  moral  or  intellectual  faculties?     But 
before  I  can  be  convinced  that   a  Faculty  will  be  improved^  I 
must  be  assured  that  it  exists.     On  all   these  dark  sayings, 
therefore,  of  Dort  or   Trent,  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  ask,  by 
what  faculty^   organ^  or  inlet  of  knowledge  we  are  to  assure 
ourselves,    that  tlie  words  inean  any  thing,    or  correspond  to 

16 


182  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

any  object  out  of  our  own  mind  or  even  in  it :  unless  indeed 
the  mere  craving  and  striving  to  think  on,  after  all  the  mate- 
rials for  thinking  have  been  exhausted,  can  be  called  an  object. 
When  a  number  of  trust-worthy  Persons  assure  me,  that  a 
portion  of  fluid  which  they  saw  to  be  Water,  by  some  change 
in  the  fluid  itself,  or  in  their  Senses,  suddenly  acquired  the 
Colour,  Taste,  Smell,  and  exhilarating  property  of  Wine,  I 
perfectly  understand  what  they  tell  me,  and  likewise  by  what 
faculties  they  might  have  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Fact. 
But  if  any  one  of  the  number  not  satisfied  with  my  acquies- 
cence in  the  Fact,  should  insist  on  my  believing,  that  the  Mat- 
ter remained  the  same,  the  Substance  and  the  Accidents  hav- 
ing been  removed  in  order  to  make  way  for  a  different  Sub- 
stance with  different  Accidents,  I  must  entreat  his  permission 
to  wait  till  I  can  discover  in  myself  any  faculty,  by  which 
there  can  be  presented  to  me  a  matter  distinguishable  from 
Accidents,  and  a  Substance  that  is  different  from  both.  It  is 
true,  I  have  a  faculty  of  articulation  ;  but  1  do  not  see  that  it 
can  be  improved  by  my  using  it  for  the  formation  of  words 
without  meaning,  or  at  best,  for  the  utterance  of  Thoughts, 
that  mean  only  the  act  of  so  thinking,  or  of  trying  so  to  think. 
But  the  end  of  Religion  is  the  improvement  of  our  Nature 
and  Faculties.  Ergo,  &c.  Q.  E.  D.  I  sum  up  the  whole  in 
one  great  practical  Maxim.  The  Object  of  religious  Contem- 
plation, and  of  a  truly  spiritual  Faith,  is  the  ways  of  God  to 
Man.  Of  the  Workings  of  the  Godhead,  God  himself  has 
told  us,  My  Ways  are  not  as  your  ways,  nor  my  Thoughts  as 
your  Thoughts. 

APHORISM  IV. 

THE  CHARACTEHISTIC  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  DISCIPLINE 
OF  THE  ANCIENT  PHILOSOPHERS  AND  THE  DISPENSATION  OF 
THE  GOSPEL. 

By  undeceiving,  enlarging,  and  informing  the  Intellect,  Phi- 
losophy sought  to  purify,  and  to  elevate  the  floral  Character. 
Of  course,  those  alone  could  receive  the  latter  and  incompara- 
bly greater  Benefit,  who  by  natural  capacity  and  favourable 


APHORISMS   ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGIOX.  123 

contingencies  of  Fortune  were  fit  Recipients  of  the  former. 
How  small  the  number,  we  scarcely  need  the  evidence  of  His- 
tory to  assure  us.  Across  the  Night  of  Paganism,  Philosophy 
flitted  on,  like  the  Lanthorn-fly  of  the  Tropics,  a  Light  to  itself, 
and  an  Ornament,  but  alas!  no  more  than  an  ornament,  of  th^ 
surrounding  Darkness. 

Christianity  reversed  the  order.  By  means  accessible  to 
all,  by  inducements  operative  on  all,  and  by  convictions,  the 
grounds  and  materials  of  which  all  men  might  find  in  them- 
selves her  first  step  was  to  cleanse  the  Heart.  But  the  bene- 
fit did  not  stop  here.  In  preventing  the  rank  vapours  that 
steam  up  from  the  corrupt  Heart  Christianity  restores  the  /n- 
/e/ZecHikewise  to  its  natural  clearness.  By  relieving  the  mind 
from  the  distractions  and  importunities  of  the  unruly  pas- 
sions, she  improves  the  quality  of  the  Understanding  :  while 
at  the  same  time  she  presents  for  its  contemplations  Ob- 
jects so  great  and  so  bright  as  cannot  but  enlarge  the  Organ, 
by  which  they  are  contemplated.  The  Fears,  the  Hopes,  the 
Remembrances,  the  Anticipations,  the  inward  and  outward  Ex- 
perience, the  Belief  and  the  Faith,  of  a  Christian  form  of  them- 
selves a  Philosophy  and  a  sum  of  Knov»ledge,  which  a  Life 
spent  in  the  Grove  of  Academus,  or  the  "painted  Porch," 
could  not  have  attained  or  collected.  The  result  is  contained 
in  the  fact  of  a  wide  and  still  widening  Christendom. 

Yet  I  dare  not  say,  that  the  effects  have  been  proportionate 
to  the  divine  wisdom  of  the  Scheme.  Too  soon  did  the  Doc- 
tors of  the  Church  forget  that  the  Hearty  the  Moral  Nature,  was 
the  Beginning  and  the  End ;  and  that  Truth,  Knowledge  and 
Insight  were  comprehended  in  its  expansion.  This  was  the 
true  and  first  apostasy — when  in  Council  and  Synod  the  divine 
Humanities  of  the  Gospel  gave  way  to  speculative  Systems, 
and  Religion  became  a  Science  of  Shadows  under  the  name 
of  Theology,  or  at  best  a  bare  Skeleton  of  Truth,  without 
life  or  interest,  alike  inaccessible  and  unintelligible  to  the  ma- 
jority of  Christians.  For  these  therefore  there  remained  only 
rites  and  ceremonies  and  spectacles,  shows  and  semblances. 
Thus  among  the  learned  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for 
(Heb.  xi.  1.)  passed  off  into  Notions  ;  and  for  the  Unlearned 


124  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

the  surfaces  of  Things  became  [52]  Substance.  The  Chris- 
tian world  was  for  centuries  divided  into  the  Many,  that  did 
not  think  at  all,  and  the  Few  who  did  nothing  but  //linA; — both 
alike  mirejlecting^  the  one  from  defect  of  the  Act^  the  other 
from  the  absence  of  an  Object. 

APHORISM  V. 

There  is  small  chance  of  Truth  at  the  goal  where  there  is 
not  child-like  Humility  at  the  Starting-post. 

COMMENT. 

Humility  is  the  safest  Ground  of  Docility  :  and  Docility  the 
surest  Promise  of  Docibility.  Where  there  is  no  working  of 
Self-love  in  the  heart  that  secures  a  leaning  beforehand  ;  where 
the  great  Magnet  of  the  Planet  is  not  overwhelmed  or  obscur- 
ed by  partial  masses  of  Iron  in  close  neighbourhood  to  the 
Compass  of  the  Judgment,  though  hidden  or  unnoticed ;  there 
will  this  great  Desideratum  be  found  of  a  child-like  Humility. 
Do  I  then  say,  that  I  am  to  be  influenced  by  no  Interest  ?  Far 
from  it !  There  is  an  Interest  of  Truth  :  or  how  could  there 
be  a  Love  of  Truth  ?  And  that  a  love  of  Truth  for  its  own 
sake,  and  merely  as  Truth,  is  possible,  my  Soul  bears  witness 
to  itself  in  its  inmost  recesses.  But  there  are  other  Inter- 
ests— those  of  Goodness,  of  Beauty,  of  Utility.  It  would  be 
a  sorry  proof  of  the  Humility  I  am  extolling,  were  I  to  ask  for 
Angels'  wings  to  overfly  my  own  Human  Nature.  I  exclude 
none  of  these.  It  is  enough  if  the  ^' lene  clinamen,^^  the  gen- 
tle Bias,  be  given  by  no  interest  that  concerns  myself  other 
than  as  I  am  a  Man,  and  included  in  the  great  family  of  Man- 
kind ;  but  which  does  therefore  especially  concern  me,  be- 
cause being  a  common  Interest  of  all  men  it  must  needs  con- 
cern the  very  essentials  of  my  Bfeing,  and  because  these  ea- 
sentials,  as  existing  in  me,  are  especially  intrusted  to  my-  par- 
ticular charge. 

Widely  diff'erent  from  this  social  and  truth  attracted  Bias, 
different  both  in  its  nature  and  its  effects,  is  the  Interest  con- 
nected with  the  desire  of  distingimhing  yourself  from  other 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  125 

men,  in  order  to  be  distinguished  by  them.  Hoc  revera  est 
inter  te  et  veritatem.  This  Interest  does  indeed  stand  be- 
tween thee  and  truth.  I  might  add  between  thee  and  thy  own 
soul.  It  is  scarcely  more  at  variance  with  the  love  of  truth 
than  it  is  unfriendly  to  the  attainment  that  deserves  that  name. 
By  your  own  act  you  have  appointed  the  Many  as  your  Judg- 
es and  Appraisers  :  for  the  anxiety  to  be  admired  is  a  loveless 
passion,  ever  strongest  with  regard  to  those  by  whom  we  are 
least  known  and  least  cared  for,  loud  on  the  Hustings,  gay 
in  the  Ball-room,  mute  and  sullen  at  the  family  Fireside. 
What  you  have  acquired  by  patient  thought  and  cautious  dis- 
crimination, demands  a  portion  of  the  same  effort  in  those  who 
are  to  receive  it  from  you.  But  Applause  and  Preference  are 
things  of  Barter  ;  and  if  you  trade  in  them.  Experience  will 
soon  teach  you  that  there  are  easier  and  less  unsuitable  ways 
to  win  golden  judgments  than  by  at  once  taxing  the  patience 
and  humiliating  the  self-opinion  of  your  judges.  To  obtain 
your  end,  your  woids  must  be  as  indefinite  as  their  Thoughts  : 
and  how  vague  and  general  these  are  even  on  objects  of  sense, 
the  few  who  at  a  mature  age  have  seriously  set  about  the  dis- 
cipline of  their  faculties,  and  have  honestly  taken  stock,  best 
know  by  recollection  of  their  own  state.  To  be  admired  you 
must  make  your  auditors  believe  at  least  that  they  understand 
what  you  say  ;  which,  be  assured,  they  never  will,  if  it  be  /, 
worth  understanding,  or  if  you  understand  your  own  soul. 
But  while  your  prevailing  motive  is  to  be  compared  and  ap- 
preciated, is  it  credible,  is  it  possible,  that  you  should  in  ear- 
nest seek  for  a  knowledge  which  is  and  must  remain  a  hidden 
Light,  a  secret  Treasure  ?  Have  you  children,  or  have  you 
lived  among  children,  and  do  you  not  know,  that  in  all  things, 
in  food,  in  medicine,  in  all  their  doings  and  abstainings  they 
must  believe  in  order  to  acquire  a  reason  for  their  belief?  But* 
so  is  it  with  religious  truths  for  all  men.  These  we  must  all 
learn  as  children.  The  ground  of  the  prevailing  error  on  this 
point  is  the  ignorance,  that  in  spiritual  concernments  to  be- 
lieve and  to  understand  are  not  diverse  things,  but  the  same 
thing  in  different  periods  of  its  growth.     Belief  is  the  seed, 


126  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

received  into  the  will,  of  which  the  Understanding  or  Knowl- 
edge is  the  Flower,  and  the  thing  believed  is  the  fruit.  Un- 
less ye  believe  (saith  the  Prophet)  ye  cannot  understand  :  and 
unless  ye  be  humble  as  children,  ye  not  only  will  not,  but  ye 
cannot  believe.  Of  such  therefore  is  the  Kingdom  of  Hea- 
ven. Yea,  blessed  is  the  calamity  that  makes  us  humble  : 
though  so  repugnant  thereto  is  our  nature,  in  our  present  state 
that  after  a  while,  it  is  to  be  feared,  a  second  and  sharper  ca- 
lamity would  be  wanted  to  cure  us  of  our  pride  in  having  be- 
come so  humble. 

Lastly,  there  are  among  us,  though  fewer  and  less  in  fash- 
ion than  among  our  ancestors.  Persons  who,  like  Shaftesbury, 
do  not  belong  to  "  the  herd  of  Epicurus,"  yet  prefer  a  philo- 
sophic Paganism  to  the  morality  of  the  Gospel.  Now  it  would 
conduce,  methinks,  to  the  child-like  Humility,  we  have  been 
discoursing  of,  if  the  use  of  the  term,  Virtue,  in  that  high 
comprehensive,  and  notional  seiise  in  which  it  was  used  by 
the  ancient  Stoics,  were  abandoned,  as  a  relic  of  Paganism,  to 
these  modern  Pagans  :  and  if  Christians  restoring  the  word  to 
its  original  import,  viz.  Manhood  or  Mmliness,  used  it  exclu- 
sively to  express  the  quality  of  Fortitude  ;  Strength  of  Char- 
acter in  relation  to  the  resistance  opposed  by  Nature  and  the 
irrational  Passions  to  the  Dictates  of  Eeason  ;  Energy  of  will 
in  preserving  the  Line  of  Rectitude  tense  and  firm  against  the 
warping  forces  and  treacheries  of  Temptation,  Surely,  it 
were  far  less  unseemly  to  value  ourselves  on  this  moral 
Strength  than  on  Strength  of  Body,  or  even  Strength  of  In- 
tellect. But  we  will  rather  value  it  for  ourselves  :  and  bear- 
ing in  mind  the  old  adage,  Quis  custodiet  ipsum  Custodem  ? 
we  will  value  it  the  more,  yea,  then  only  will  we  allow  it  true 
spiritual  Worthy  when  we  possess  it  as  a  gift  of  Grace^  a  boon 
of  Mercy  undeserved,  a  fulfilment  of  a  free  Promise  ( 1  Cor- 
inth. X.  13.)  What  more  is  meant  in  this  last  paragraph,  let 
the  venerable  Hooker  say  for  me  in  the  following 

APHORISM  VI. 

What  is    Virtue  but  a  Medicine,  and  Vice  but  a  Wound  ? 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIBITUAL    RELIGION.  127 

Yea,  we  have  so  often  deeply  wounded  ourselves  with  Medi- 
cine, that  God  hath  been  fain  to  make  wounds  medicinable  ; 
to  cure  by  Vice  where  Virtue  hath  stricken ;  to  suffer  the 
just  man  to  fall,  that  being  raised  he  may  be  taught  what  pow- 
er it  was  which  upheld  him  standing.  I  am  not  afraid  to  af- 
firm it  boldly  with  St.  Augustine,  that  Men  puffed  up  through 
a  proud  Opinion  of  their  own  Sanctity  and  Holiness  receive  a 
benefit  at  the  hands  of  God,  and  are  assisted  with  his  Grace 
when  with  his  Grace  they  are  not  assisted,  but  permitted  (and 
that  grievously)  to  transgress.  Whereby,  as  they  were  through 
over-great  Liking  of  themselves  supplanted  (tripped  up)^  so 
the  dislike  of  that  which  did  supplant  them  may  establish 
them  afterwards  the  surer.  Ask  the  very  Soul  of  Peter, 
and  it  shall  undoubtedly  itself  make  you  this  answer  :  My 
eager  protestations  made  in  the  glory  of  my  spiritual  strength, 
I  am  ashamed  of.  But  my  shame  and  the  Tears,  with  which 
my  Presumption  and  my  Weakness  were  bewailed,  recur  in 
the  songs  of  my  Thanksgiving.  My  Strength  had  been  my 
Ruin,  my  Fall  hath  proved  my  Stay.  Sermon  on  the  Nature 
of  Pride,  Hooker's  Works,  p.  521. 

APHORISiAI  VII. 

The  Being  and  Providence  of  One  Living  God,  Holy,  Gra- 
cious, Merciful,  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  Things,  and 
a  Father  of  the  Righteous  ;  the  Moral  Law  in  ^  its  utmost 
height,  breadth  and  purity  ;  a  State  of  Retribution  after  death  ; 
the  2  Resurrection  of  the  Dead  ;  and  a  Day  of  Judgment — all 
these  were  known  and  received  by  the  Jewish  People,  as 
established  articles  of  the  National  Faith,  at  or  before  the  Pro- 
claiming of  Christ  by  the  Baptist.  They  are  the  ground-work 
of  Christianity,  and  essentials  in  the  Christian  Faith,  but  not 
its  characteristic  and  peculiar  Doctrines  :  except  indeed  as  they 
are  confirmed,  enlivened,  realized  and  brought  home  to  the 
whole  Being  of  Man,  Head,  Heart,  and  Spirit,  hy  the  truths 
and  influences  of  the  Gospel. 

Peculiar  to  Christianity  are  : 

I.  The  belief  that  a  Means   of  Salvation  has  been  effected 


128  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

and  provided  for  the  Human  Race  by  the  incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  his  Life 
on  earth,  his  Sufferings,  Death,  and  Resurrection  are  not  only- 
proofs  and  manifestations,  but  likewise  essential  and  effective 
parts  of  the  great  Redemptive  Act,  whereby  also  the  Obstacle 
from  the  corruption  of  our  Nature  is  rendered  no  longer  insur- 
mountable. 

II.  The  belief  in  the  possible  appropriation  of  this  benefit 
by  Repentance  and  Faith,  including  the  Aids  that  render  an 
effective  Faith  and  Repentance  themselves  possible. 

III.  The  belief  in  the  reception  (by  as  many  as  "  shall  be 
Heirs  of  Salvation")  of  a  living  and  spiritual  Principle,  a  seed 
of  Life  capable  of  surviving  this  natural  life,  and  of  existing 
in  a  divine  and  immortal  State. 

IV.  The  belief  in  the  awakening  of  the  Spirit  [53]  in  them 
that  truly  believe,  and  in  the  communion  of  the  Spirit,  thus 
awakened,  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 

y.  The  belief  in  the  accompanying  and  consequent  gifts, 
graces,  comforts,  and  privileges  of  the  Spirit,  which  acting 
primarily  on  the  heart  and  will  cannot  but  manifest  themselves 
in  suitable  works  of  Love  and  Obedience,  i.  e.  in  right  acts 
with  right  affections,  from  right  principles. 

Further,  as  Christians,  we  are  taught,  that  these  Works  are 
the  appointed  signs  and  evidences  of  our  Faith  ;  and  that  un- 
der limitation  of  the  power,  the  means,  and  the  opportu- 
nities afforded  us  individually,  they  are  the  rule  and  measure, 
by  which  we  are  bound  and  enabled  to  judge,  of  what  spirit 
we  are :  and  all  these  together  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Fa- 
thers reproclaimed  in  the  everlasting  Gospel,  we  receive  in 
the  full  assurance,  that  God  beholds  and  will  finally  judge  us 
with  a  merciful  consideration  of  our  infirmities,  a  gracious  ac- 
ceptance of  our  sincere  though  imperfect  strivings,  a  forgive- 
ness of  our  defects  through  the  mediation,  and  a  completion  of 
our  deficiencies  by  the  perfect  righteousness,  of  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus,  even  the  Word  that  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God,  and  who,  being  God,  became  Man  for  the  redemption  of 
Mankind. 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL,    RELIGION.  129 


COMMENT. 


I  earnestly  entreat  the  Reader  to  pause  awhile,  and  to  join 
with  me  in  reflecting  on  the  preceding  Aphorism.  It  hasbeen 
my  aim  throughout  this  work  to  enforce  two  points  :  1.  That 
Morality  arising  out  of  the  Reason  and  Conscience  of  Men, 
and  Prudence,  which  in  like  manner  flows  out  of  the  Under- 
standing and  the  natural  Wants  and  Desires  of  the  Individual, 
are  two  distinct  things  ;  2.  That  Morality  with  prudence  as 
its  instrument  has,  considered  abstractedly,  not  only  a  value 
but  a  worth  in  itself.  Now  the  question  is  ( and  it  is  a  ques- 
tion which  every  man  must  answer  for  himself)  "  From  what 
you  know  of  yourself;  of  your  own  heart  and  Strength  ;  and 
from  what  History  and  personal  Experience  have  led  you  to 
conclude  of  mankind  generally  ;  dare  you  trust  to  it  ?  Dare 
you  trust  to  it  ?  To  if,  and  to  it  alone  ?  If  so,  well !  It  is 
at  your  own  risk.  I  judge  you  not.  Before  Him,  who  can- 
not be  mocked,  you  stand  or  fall.  But  if  not,  if  you  have  had 
too  good  reason  to  know,  that  your  heart  is  deceitful  and  your 
strength  weakness  :  if  you  are  disposed  to  exclaim  with  Paul — 
the  Law  indeed  is  holy,  just,  good,  spiritual;  but  I  am  car- 
nal, sold  under  sin  :  for  that  which  I  do,  I  allow  not ;  and  what 
I  would,  that  do  I  not  ? — in  this  case,  there  is  a  voice  that 
says.  Come  unto  me  :  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  This  is  the 
Voice  of  Christ :  and  the  Conditions,  under  which  the  prom- 
ise was  given  by  him,  are  that  you  believe  in  him,  and  believe 
his  words.  And  he  has  further  assured  you,  that  if  you  do 
so,  you  will  obey.  You  are,  in  short,  to  embrace  the  Chris- 
tian Faith  as  your  Religion — those  truths  which  St.  Paul  be- 
lieved after  his  conversion,  and  not  those  only  which  he  be- 
lieved no  less  undoubtingly  while  he  was  persecuting  Christ, 
and  an  enemy  of  the  Christian  Religion.  With  what  consis- 
tency could  I  offer  you  this  volume  as  Aids  to  Reflection  if  I 
did  not  call  on  you  to  ascertain  in  the  first  instance  what  these 
truths  are  ?  But  these  1  could  not  lay  before  you  without  first 
enumerating  certain  other  points  of  belief,  which  though  truths, 
indispensable  truths,  and  truths   comprehended  or  rather  pre- 

17 


130  AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 

supposed  in  the  Christian  Scheme,  are  yet  not  these  Truths. 
John  i.  17. 

While  doing  this,  I  was  aware  that  the  Positions,  in  the  first 
paragraph  of  the  preceding  Aphorism,  to  which  the  numerical 
marks  are  affixed,  will  startle  some  of  my  Readers.  Let  the 
following  sentences  serve  for  the  notes  corresponding  to  the 
marks  , 

I  Be  you  holy  :  even  as  God  is  holy. — What  more  does  he 
require  of  thee,  0  man !  than  to  do  justice,  love  mercy,  and 
walk  humbly  with  the  Lord  thy  God  ?  To  these  summary 
passages  from  Moses  and  the  Prophets  (the  first  exhibiting  the 
closed,  the  second  the  expanded.  Hand  of  the  Moral  Law),  I 
might  add  the  Authorities  of  Grotius  and  other  more  orthodox 
and  not  less  learned  Divines,  for  the  opinion,  that  the  Lord's 
Prayer  was  a  selection^  and  the  famous  Passage  [The  Hour  is 
now  coming,  John  v.  28,  29.]  a  citation  by  our  Lord  from  the 
Liturgy  of  the  Jewish  Church.  But  it  will  be  sufficient  to  re- 
mind the  reader  that  the  apparent  difference  between  the  prom- 
inent moral  truths  of  the  Old  and  those  of  the  New  Testament 
results  from  the  latter  having  been  written  in  Greek ;  while 
the  conversations  recorded  by  the  Evangelists  took  place  in 
Hebrew  or  Syro-chaldaic.  Hence  it  happened  that  where 
our  Lord  cited  the  original  text,  his  Biographers  substituted 
the  Septuagint  Version,  while  our  English  Version  is  in  both 
instances  immediate  and  literal — in  the  Old  Testament  from 
the  Hebrew  Original,  in  the  New  Testament  from  the  freer 
Greek  Translation.  The  text,  "  I  give  you  a  new  command- 
ment," has  no  connexion  with  the  present  subject. 

2There  is  a  current  mistake  on  this  point  likewise,  though 
this  article  of  the  Jewish  Belief  is  not  only  asserted  by  St. 
Paul,  but  is  elsewhere  spoken  of  as  common  to  the  Twelve 
Tribes.  The  mistake  consists  in  supposing  the  Pharisees  to 
have  been  a  distinct  Sect^  and  in  strangely  over-rating  the  num- 
ber of  the  Sadducees.  The  former  were  distinguished  not  by 
holding,  as  matters  of  religious  belief,  articles  diiferent  from 
the  Jewish  Church  at  large ;  but  by  their  pretences  to  a  more 
rigid  orthodoxy,  a  more  scrupulous  performance.     They  were, 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL.    RELIGION.  131 

ill  short  (if  I  may  dare  use  a  phrase  which  I  dislike  as  profane 
and  denounce  as  uncharitable),  the  Evangelicals  and  strict 
Professors  of  the  Day.  The  latter,  the  Sadducees,  whose 
opinions  much  more  nearly  resembled  those  of  the  Stoics  than 
the  Epicureans  ( a  remark  that  will  appear  paradoxical  to  those 
only  who  have  abstracted  their  notions  of  the  Stoic  Philoso- 
phy from  Epictetus,  Mark  Antonine,  and  certain  brilliant  in- 
consistencies of  Seneca),  were  a  handful  of  rich  men,  roman- 
ized  Jews,  not  more  numerous  than  Infidels  among  us,  and  held 
by  the  People  at  large  in  at  least  equal  Abhorrence.  Their 
great  argument  was  :  that  the  Belief  of  a  future  State  of  re- 
wards and  punishments  injured  or  destroyed  the  purity  of  the 
Moral  Law  for  the  more  enlightened  Classes,  and  weakened 
the  influence  of  the  Laws  of  the  Land  for  the  People,  the  vul- 
gar Multitude. 


1  will  now  suppose  the  Reader  to  have  thoughtfully  re-pe- 
rused the  Paragraph  containing  the  Tenets  peculiar  to  Chris- 
tianity, and^if  he  have  his  religious  principles  yet  to  form,  1 
should  expect  to  overhear  a  troubled  IMurmur  :  How  can  I 
comprehend  this  ?  How  is  this  to  be  proved  ?  To  the  first 
question  I  should  answer :  Christianity  is  not  a  Theory,  or  a 
Speculation ;  but  a  Life.  Not  a  Philosophy  of  Life,  but  a 
Life  and  a  living  process.  To  the  second :  Try  it.  It  has 
been  eisjhteen  hundred  Years  in  existence  :  and  has  one  Indi- 
vidual  left  a  record,  like  the  following  ?  [I  tried  it;  audit 
did  not  answer.  I  made  the  experiment  faithfully  according  to 
the  directions  ;  and  the  result  has  been,  a  conviction  of  my  own 
credulity.]  Have  you,  in  your  own  experience,  met  with  any 
one  in  whose  words  you  could  place  full  confidence,  and  who 
has  seriously  affirmed,  [I  have  given  Christianity  a  fair  trial. 
I  was  aware,  that  its  promises  were  made  only  conditionally. 
But  my  heart  bears  me  witness,  that  I  have  to  the  utmost  of 
my  power  complied  with  the^e  conditions.     Both   outwardly 


132 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


and  in  the  discipline  of  my  inward  acts  and  affections,  I  have 
performed  the  duties  which  it  enjoins,  and  I  have  used  the 
means,  which  it  prescribes.  Yet  my  Assurance  of  its  truth 
has  received  no  increase.  Its  promises  have  not  been  fulfil- 
led :  and  I  repent  me  of  my  delusion  !]  If  neither  your  own 
experience  nor  the  History  of  almost  two  thousand  years  has 
presented  a  single  testimony  to  this  purport  ;  and  if  you  have 
read  and  heard  of  many  who  have  lived  and  died  bearing  wit- 
ness to  the  contrary  :  and  if  you  have  yourself  met  with  some 
one,  in  whom  on  any  other  point  you  would  place  unqualified 
trust,  who  has  on  his  own  experience  made  report  to  you,  that 
"  he  is  faithful  who  promised,  and  what  he  promised  he  has 
proved  himself  able  to  perform  :"  is  it  bigotry,  if  I  fear  that 
the  Unbelief,  which  prejudges  and  prevents  the  experiment, 
has  its  source  elsewhere  than  in  the  uncorrupted  judgment; 
that  not  the  strong  free  Mind,  but  the  enslaved  Will,  is  the  true 
original  Infidel  in  this  instance  ?  It  would  not  be  the  first 
time,  that  a  treacherous  Bosom-Sin  had  Suborned  the  Under- 
standings of  men  to  bear  false  witness  against  its  avowed  ene- 
my, the  right  though  unreceived  Owner  of  the  House,  who 
had  long  ivarned  it  out,  and  waited  only  for  its  ejection  to  en- 
ter and  take  possession  of  the  same. 

I  have  elsewhere  in  the  present  Work,  though  more  at  large 
in  the  "Elements  of  Discourse"  which,  God  permitting,  will 
follow  it,  explained  the  difference  between  the  Understanding 
and  the  Reason,  by  Reason  meaning  exclusively  the  specula- 
tive or  scientific  Power  so  called,  the  Nous  or  Mens  of  the 
Ancients.  And  wider  still  is  the  distinction  between  the  Un- 
derstanding and  the  Spiritual  Mind.  But  no  Gift  of  God  does 
or  can  contradict  any  other  Gift,  except  by  misuse  or  misdirec- 
tion. Most  readily  therc-'fore  do  I  admit,  that  theie  can  be  no 
contrariety  between  Revelation  and  the  Understanding;  un- 
less you  call  the  fact,  that  the  Skin,  though  sensible  of  the 
warmth  of  the  Sun,  can  convey  no  notion  of  its  figure,  or  its 
joyous  light,  or  of  the  colors,  it  impresses  on  the  clouds,  a  con- 
trariety between  the  Skin  and  the  Eye ;  or  infer  that  the  cu- 
taneous and  the  optic  nerves  contradict  each  other. 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  133 

But  we  have  grounds  to  believe,  that  there  are  yet  other 
Rays  or  Effluences  from  the  Sun,  which  neither  Feeling  nor 
Sight  can  apprehend,  but  which  are  to  be  inferred  from  the  ef- 
fects. And  were  it  even  so  with  regard  to  the  Spiritual  Sun, 
how  would  this  contradict  the  Understanding  or  the  Reason  ? 
It  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  contrary,  that  the  Mysteries  in 
question  are  not  in  the  direction  of  the  Understanding  or  the 
(speculative)  Reason.  They  do  not  move  on  the  same  line 
or  plane  with  them,  and  therefore  cannot  contradict  them.  But 
besides  this,  in  the  Mystery  that  most  immediately  concerns 
the  Believer,  that  of  the  birth  into  a  new  and  spiritual  life, 
the  common  sense  and  experience  of  mankind  come  in  aid  of 
their  faith.  The  analogous  facts  which  we  know  to  be  true, 
not  only  facilitate  the  apprehension  of  the  facts  promised  to 
us,  and  expressed  by  the  same  words  in  conjunction  with  a 
distinctive  epithet ;  but  being  confessedly  not  less  incompre- 
hensible, the  certain  knowledge  of  the  one  disposes  us  to  the 
belief  of  the  other.  It  removes  at  least  all  objections  to  the 
truth  of  the  doctrine  derived  from  the  mysteriousness  of  its 
subject.  The  Life  we  seek  after,  is  a  mystery ;  but  so  both 
in  itself  and  in  its  origin  is  the  Life  we  have.  In  order  to  meet 
this  question,  however,  with  minds  duly  prepared,  there  are 
two  preliminary  enquiries  to  be  decided ;  the  first  respecting 
the  purport^  the  second  respecting  the  language  of  the  Gospel. 

First  then  of  the  purport^  viz.  what  the  Gospel  does  wo/, 
and  what  it  does  profess  to  be.  The  Gospel  is  not  a  system  of 
Theology,  nor  a  Syntagma  of  Theoretical  propositions  and 
conclusions  for  the  enlargement  of  speculative  knowledge,  eth- 
ical or  metaphysical.  But  it  is  a  History,  a  series  of  Facts  and 
Events  related  or  announced.  These  do  indeed,  involve,  or 
rather  I  should  say  they  at  the  same  time  are^  most  important 
doctrinal  Truths;  but  still  Facts  and  Declaration  oi  Facts. 

Secondly  of  the  language.  This  is  a  wide  subject.  But 
the  point,  to  which  I  chiefly  advert,  is  the  necessity  of  tho- 
roughly understanding  the  distinction  between  analogous  and 
metaphorical  language.  Analogies  are  used  in  aid  of  Convic- 
lion  :  Metaphors  J  as  means  of  Illustration.     The   language  is 


134  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

analogous,  wherever  a  thing,  power,  or  principle  in  a  higher 
dignity  is  expressed  by  the  same  thing,  power,  or  principle  in 
a  lower  but  moie  known  form.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  lan- 
guage of  John  iii.  6.  That  which  is  horn  of  the  Fleshy  is 
Flesh  ;  that  ivhich  is  bom  of  the  Spirit,  is  Spirit.  The  latter 
half  of  the  verse  contains  the  fact  asserted  ;  the  former  half 
the  analogous  fact,  by  which  it  is  rendered  intelligible.  If 
any  man  choose  to  call  this  metaphorical  or  figurative,  I  ask 
him  whether  with  Hobbs  and  Bolingbroke  he  applies  the  same 
rule  to  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Deity  ?  Whether  he  re- 
gards the  divine  Justice,  for  instance,  as  a  metaphorical  term, 
a  mere  figure  of  speech  ?  If  he  disclaims  this,  then  I  answer, 
neither  do  I  regard  the  v7ords,  born  again^  or  spiritual  life^  as 
figures  or  metaphors.  I  have  only  to  add,  that  these  analogies 
are  the  material,  or  (to  speak  chemically)  the  base^  of  Sym- 
bols and  symbolical  expressions ;  the  nature  of  which  as  al- 
ways towtegorical  (i.  e.  expressing  the  same  subject  but  with 
a  difference)  in  contra-distinction  from  metaphois  and  simili- 
tudes, that  are  always  aZ/egorical  (i.  e.  expressing  a  different 
subject  but  with  a  resemblance)  will  be  found  explained  at 
large  in  the  Statesman's  Manual,  p.  35 — 38,  [54]. 

Oi  metaphorical  language,  on  the  other  hand,  let  the  follow- 
ing be  taken  as  instance  and  illustration.  I  am  speaking,  Ave 
will  suppose,  of  an  Act,  which  in  its  own  nature,  and  as  a  pro- 
ducing and  efficient  cause^  is  transcendent ;  but  which  produ- 
ces sundry  effects^  each  of  which  is  the  same  in  kind  with  an 
effect  produced  by  a  Cause  well  known  and  of  ordinary  occur- 
rence. Now  when  I  characterize  or  designate  this  transcen- 
dent Act,  in  exclusive  reference  to  these  its  effects,  by  a  suc- 
cession of  names  borrowed  from  their  ordinary  causes ;  not 
for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the  Act  itself,  or  the  manner  of 
the  Agency,  conceivable,  but  in  order  to  show  the  nature  and 
magnitude  of  the  Benefits  received  from  it,  and  thus  to  excite 
the  due  admiration,  gratitude,  and  love  in  the  Receivers; — in 
this  case  I  should  be  rightly  described  as  speaking  metaphori- 
cally. And  in  this  case  to  confound  the  similarity  in  respect 
of  the  effects  relatively  to  the  Recipients  with  an  identify  in 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  135 

respect  of  the  causes  or  modes  of  causation  relatively  to  the 
transcendent  Act  or  the  divine  Agent,  is  a  confusion  of  meta- 
phor with  analogy,  and  of  figurative  with  literal ;  and  has  been 
and  continues  to  be  a  fruitful  source  of  superstition  or  enthu- 
siasm in  Believers,  and  of  objections  and  prejudices  to  Infidels 
and  Sceptics.  But  each  of  these  points  is  worthy  of  a  sepa- 
rate consideration:  and  apt  occasions  will  be  found  of  revert- 
ing to  them  severally  in  the  following  Aphorisms  or  the  com- 
ments thereto  attached. 

APHORISM    VIII.  LEIGHTOX. 

Faith  elevates  the  soul  not  only  above  Sense  and  sensible 
things,  but  above  Reason  itself.  As  Reason  corrects  the  er- 
rors  which  Sense  might  occasion,  so  supernatural  Faith  cor- 
rects the  errors  of  natural  reason  judging  according  to  sense. 

COMMENT. 

The  Editor's  remarks  on  this  aphorism  from  Archbishop 
Leighton  cannot  be  better  introduced,  or  their  purport  more 
distinctly  announced,  than  by  the  following  sentence  from 
Harrington,  with  no  other  change  than  was  necessary  to  make 
the  words  express  without  aid  of  the  context,  what  from  the 
context  it  is  evident  was  the  Writer's  meaning.  "  The  defini- 
tion and  proper  character  of  Man — that,  namely,  which  should 
contra-distinguish  him  from  the  Animals — is  to  be  taken  from 
his  Reason  rather  than  from  his  Understanding  :  in  regard  that 
in  other  creatures  there  may  be  something  of  Understanding 
but  there  is  nothing  of  Reason."  See  the  Friend,  vol.  i.  p. 
263 — 277;  and  the  Appendix  (Note  C.)  to  the  Statesman's 
Manual,  p.  [55.] 

Sir  Thomas  Brown,  in  his  Religio  Medici,  complains,  that 
there  are  not  impossibilities  enough  in  Religion  for  his  active 
faith  ;  and  adopts  by  choice  and  in  free  preference  such  inter- 
pretations of  certain  texts  and  declarations  of  Holy  Writ,  as 
place  them  in  irreconcilable  contradiction  to  the  demonstrations 
of  science  and  experience  of  mankind,  because  ( says  he )  I  love 
to  lose  m3'self  in  a  mystery,  and  'tis  my  solitary  recreation  to 
pose  my  apprehension  with  those  involved  enigmas  and  riddles 


136  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

of  the  Trinity  and  Incarnation — "and  because  he  delights  (as 
thinking"  it  no  vulgar  part  of  faith)  to  believe  a  thing  not  on- 
\y  above  but  contrary  to  Reason,  and  against  the  evidence  of 
our  proper  senses.  For  the  worthy  knight  could  answer  all 
the  objections  of  the  Devil  and  Reason  ( ! ! )  "  with  the  odd  reso- 
lution he  had  learnt  of  TertuUian :  Certum  est  quia  impos- 
sibile  est.  It  is  certainly  true  because  it  is  quite  imposible  !" 
Now  this  I  call  Ultra-fidianism[56]. 

Again,  there  is  a  scheme  constructed  on  the  principle  of  re- 
taining the  social  sympathies,  that  attend  on  the  name  of  Be- 
liever, at  the  least  possible  expenditure  of  Belief — a  scheme 
of  picking  and  choosing  Scripture  texts  for  the  support  of  doc- 
trines that  had  been  learned  beforehand  from  the  higher  oracle 
of  Common  Sense;  which,  as  applied  to  the  truths  of  Religion, 
means  the  popular  part  of  the  philosophy  in  fashion.  Of  course, 
the  scheme  differs  at  different  times  and  in  different  Individuals 
in  the  number  of  articles  excluded ;  but,  it  may  always  be  recog- 
nized by  this  permanent  character,  that  its  object  is  to  draw  re- 
ligion down  to  the  Believer's  intellect,  instead  of  raising  his  in- 
tellect up  to  religion.    And  this  extreme  I  call  Minimifidian- 

ISM. 

Now  if  there  be  one  Preventive  of  both  these  extremes  more 
efficacious  than  another,  and  preliminary  to  all  the  rest,  it  is 
the  being  made  fully  aware  of  the  diversity  of  Reason  and  Un- 
derstanding. And  this  is  the  more  expedient,  because  though 
there  is  no  want  of  authorities  ancient  and  modern  for  the  dis- 
tinction of  the  faculties  and  the  distinct  appropriation  of  the  terms, 
yet  our  best  writers  too  often  confound  the  one  with  the  other. 
Even  Lord  Bacon  himself,  who  in  his  Novum  Organum  has  so 
incomparably  set  forth  the  nature  of  the  difference,  and  the  un- 
fitness of  the  latter  faculty  for  the  objects  of  the  former,  does 
nevertheless  in  sundry  places  use  the  term  Reason  where  he 
means  the  Understanding,  and  sometimes,  though  less  frequent- 
ly. Understanding  for  Reason.  In  consequence  of  thus  con- 
founding the  two  terms,  or  rather  of  wasting  both  words  for 
the  expression  of  one  and  the  same  faculty,  he  left  himself  no 
appropriate  term  for  the   other  and  higher  gift  of  Reason,  and 


APHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION.  137 

was  thus  under  the  necessity  of  adopting  fantastic  and  mystical 
phrases,  ex.  gr.  the  dry  light  (lumen  siccum),  the  lucific  vis- 
ion, &c.,  meaning  thereby  nothing  more  than  Reason  in  con- 
tra-distinction  from  the  Understanding.  Thus  too  in  the  prece- 
ding Aphorism,  by  Reason  Leighton  means  the  human  Un- 
derstanding, the  explanation  annexed  to  it  being  (by  a  notice- 
able coincidence )  word  for  word  the  very  definition  which  the 
Founder  of  the  Critical  Philosophy  gives  of  the  Understand- 
ing— namely, "  the  Faculty  judging  according  to  Sense." 

On  the  contrary.  Reason  is  the  Power  of  universal  and  neces- 
sary Convictions,  the  Source  and  Substance  of  Truths  above 
Sense,  and  having  their  evidence  in  themselves.  Its  pres- 
ence is  always  marked  by  the  necessity  of  the  position  affirmed  : 
this  necessity  being  conditional^  when  a  truth  of  Reason  is  ap- 
plied to  Facts  of  Experience  or  to  the  rules  and  maxims  of  the 
Understanding,  but  absolute,  when  the  subject  matter  is  itself 
the  growth  or  offspring  of  the  Reason.  Hence  arises  a  distinc- 
tion in  the  Reason  itself,  derived  from  the  different  mode  of 
applying  it,  and  from  the  objects  to  which  it  is  directed  :  accor- 
ding as  we  consider  one  and  the  same  gift,  now  as  the  ground 
of  formal  principles,  and  now  as  the  origin  of  ideas.  Contem- 
plated distinctively  in  reference  to  formal  (or  abstract)  truth, 
it  is  the  speculative  Reason  ;  but  in  reference  to  actual  (or  mor- 
al) truth,  as  the  fountain  of  ideas  and  the  Light  of  the  Con- 
science, we  name  it  th.e  practical  Reason.  Whenever  by  self- 
subjection  to  this  universal  Light,  the  Will  of  the  Individual, 
the  particular  Will,  has  become  a  Will  of  Reason,  the  man  is 
regenerate  :  and  Reason  is  then  the  Spirit  of  the  regenerated 
man,  whereby  the  Person  is  capable  of  a  quickening  inter- 
communion with  the  Divine  Spirit.  And  herein  consists  the 
mystery  of  Redemption,  that  this  has  been  rendered  possible 
for  us.  "And  so  it  is  written:  the  first  man  Adam  was  made 
a  living  soul,  the  last  Adam  a  quickening  Spirit."  ( 1  Cor.  xv. 
45).  We  need  only  compare  the  passages  in  the  writings  of 
the  Apostles,  Paul  and  John,  concerning  the  Spirit  and  Spiri- 
tual Gifts,  with  those  in  the  Proverbs  and  in  the  Wisdom  of 
Solomon  respecting  Reason,  to  be  convinced  that  the  terms 

18 


138  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

are  synonymous.  In  this  at  once  most  comprehensive  and 
most  appropriate  acceptation  of  the  word,  Reason  is  preemi- 
nently spiritual,  and  a  Spirit,  even  our  Spirit,  through  an 
eilluence  of  the  same  grace  by  which  we  are  privileged  to  say 
Our  Father ! 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Judgments  of  the  Understanding  are 
binding  only  in  relation  to  the  objects  of  our  Senses,  which  we 
reflect  under  the  forms  of  the  Understanding.  It  is,  as  Leighton 
rightly  defines  it,  "  the  Faculty  judging  according  to  Sense." 
Hence  we  add  the  epithet  A,wman,  without  tautology :  and  speak 
of  the  human  Understanding,  in  disjunction  from  that  of  Be- 
ings higher  or  lower  than  man.  But  there  is,  in  this  sense,  no 
human  Reason.  There  neither  is  nor  can  be  but  one  Reason, 
one  and  the  same :  even  the  Light  that  lighteth  every  man's 
individual  Understanding,  (Discursus)  and  thus  maketh  it  a 
reasonable  Understanding,  Discourse  of  Reason — "  one  only, 
yet  manifold ;  it  goeth  through  all  understanding,  and  remain- 
ing in  itself  regenerateth  all  other  powers."  (Wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon, c.  8).  The  same  writer  calls  it  likewise  "an  influence 
from  the  Glory  of  the  Almighty ^^"^  this  being  one  of  the  names 
of  the  Messiah,  as  the  Logos,  or  co-eternal  Filial  Word.  And 
most  noticeable  for  its  coincidence  is  a  fragment  of  Heraclitus, 
as  I  have  indeed  already  noticed  elsewhere.  "To  discourse 
rationally  it  behooves  us  to  derive  strength  from  that  which  is 
common  to  all  men :  for  all  human  Understandings  are  nour- 
ished by  the  one  Divine  Word." 

Beasts,  we  have  said,  partake  of  Understanding.  If  any 
man  deny  this,  there  is  a  ready  way  of  settling  the  question. 
Let  him  give  a  careful  perusal  to  Hiiber's  two  small  volumes, 
on  Bees  and  on  Ants  (especially  the  latter),  and  to  Kirby  and 
vSpence's  Introduction  to  Entomology :  and  one  or  other  of 
two  things  must  follow.  He  will  either  change  his  opinion  as 
irreconcilable  with  the  facts:  or  he  must  deny  the  facts,  which 
yet  I  cannot  suppose,  inasmuch  as  the  denial  would  be  tanta- 
mount to  the  no  less  extravagant  than  uncharitable  assertion, 
that  Hiiber,  and  the  several  eminent  Naturalists,  French  and 
English^  Swiss,  German,  and    Italian,  by  whom    Hiiber's   ob- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  139 

servations  and  experiments  have  been  repeated  and  confirmed, 
had  all  conspired  to  impose  a  series  of  falsehoods  and  fairy- 
tales on  the  world.  I  see  no  way  at  least,  by  which  he  can  get 
out  of  this  dilemma,  but  by  over-leaping  the  admitted  Rules 
and  Fences  of  all  legitimate  Discussion,  and  either  transfer- 
ring to  the  word.  Understanding,  the  definition  already  appro- 
priated to  Reason,  or  defining  Understanding  in  genere  by  the 
specific  and  accessional  perfections  which  the  human  Under- 
standing derives  from  its  co-existence  with  Reason  and  Free- 
will in  the  same  individual  person :  in  plainer  words,  from  its 
being  exercised  by  a  self-conscious  and  res}K)nsible  Crea- 
ture. And  after  all,  the  supporter  of  Harrington's  position 
would  have  a  right  to  ask  him,  by  what  other  name  he  would 
designate  the  faculty  in  the  instances  referred  to  ?  If  it  be 
not  Understanding,  what  is  it  ? 

In  no  former  part  of  this  volume  has  the  Editor  felt  the 
same  anxiety  to  obtain  a  patient  Attention.  For  he  does  not 
hesitate  to  avow,  that  on  his  success  in  establishing  the  validi- 
ty and  importance  of  the  distinction  between  Reason  and  Un- 
derstanding, he  rests  his  hopes  of  carrying  the  Reader  along 
with  him  through  all  that  is  to  follow.  Let  the  Student  but 
clearly  see  and  comprehend  the  diversity  in  the  things  them- 
selves, the  expediency  of  a  correspondent  distinction  and  ap- 
propriation of  the  words  will  follow  of  itself.  Turn  back  for  a 
moment  to  the  Aphorism,  and  having  re-perused  the  first  para- 
graph of  this  Comment  thereon,  regard  the  two  following  nar- 
ratives as  the  illustration.  I  do  not  say  proof:  for  I  take  these 
from  a  multitude  of  facts  equally  striking  for  the  one  only  pur- 
pose of  placing  my  meaning  out  of  all  doubt, 

I.  Hiiber  put  a  dozen  Humble-bees  under  a  Bell-glass  along 
with  a  comb  of  about  ten  silken  cocoons,  so  unequal  in  height 
as  not  to  be  capable  of  standing  steadily.  To  remedy  this  two 
or  three  of  the  Humble-bees  got  upon  the  comb,  stretched 
themselv^es  over  its  edge,  and  with  their  heads  downwards 
fixed  their  fore  feet  on  the  table  on  which  the  comb  stood, 
and  so  with  their  hind  feet  kept  the  comb  from  falling.  When 
these  were  weary  others  took  their  places.    In  this  constrained 


140  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

and  painful  posture,  fresh  bees  relieving  their  comrades  at  in- 
tervals, and  each  w^orking  in  its  turn,  did  these  affectionate  lit- 
tle insects  support  the  comb  for  nearly  three  days,  at  the  end 
of  which  they  had  prepared  sufficient  wax  to  build  pillars  with. 
But  these  pillars  having  accidentally  got  displaced,  the  bees 
had  recourse  again  to  the  same  manoeuvre  (or  rather  pedodu- 
vre),till  Hiiber  pitying  their  hard  case,  &c. 

II.  "  I  shall  at  present  describe  the  operations  of  a  single  ant 
that  I  observed  sufficiently  long  to  satisfy  my  curiosity. 

"  One  rainy  day,  I  observed  a  Labourer  digging  the  ground 
near  the  aperture  which  gave  entrance  to  the  ant-hill.  It 
placed  in  a  heap  the  several  fragments  it  had  scraped  up,  and 
formed  them  into  small  pellets,  which  it  deposited  here  and 
there  upon  the  nest.  It  returned  constantly  to  the  same  place, 
and  appeared  to  have  a  marked  design,  for  it  laboured  with 
ardour  and  perseverance.  I  remarked  a  slight  furrow,  excava- 
ted in  the  ground  in  a  straight  line,  representing  the  plan  of 
a  path  or  gallery.  The  Labourer,  the  whole  of  whose  move- 
ments fell  under  my  immediate  observation,  gave  it  greater 
depth  and  breadth,  and  cleared  out  its  borders:  and  I  saw  at 
length,  in  which  I  could  not  be  deceived,  that  it  had  the  inten- 
tion of  establishing  an  avenue  which  was  to  lead  from  one  of 
the  stories  to  the  under-ground  chambers.  This  path,  which  was 
about  two  or  three  inches  in  length,  and  formed  by  a  single  ant, 
was  opened  above  and  bordered  on  each  side  by  a  buttress  of 
earth ;  its  concavity  en  forme  de  gouttiere  was  of  the  most 
perfect  regularity,  for  the  architect  had  not  left  an  atom  too 
much.  The  work  of  this  ant  was  so  well  followed  and  under- 
stood, that  I  could  almost  to  a  certainty  guess  its  next  proceed- 
ing, and  the  very  fragment  it  was  about  to  remove.  At  the  side 
of  the  opening  where  this  path  terminated,  was  a  second  opening 
to  which  it  was  necessary  to  arrive  by  some  road.  The  same 
ant  engaged  in  and  executed  alone  this  undertaking.  It  fur- 
rowed out  and  opened  another  path,  parallel  to  the  first,  leav- 
ing between  each  a  little  wall  of  three  or  four  lines  in  height. 
Those  ants  who  lay  the  foundation  of  a  wall,  a  chamber,  or 
gallery,  from  working  separately  occasion  now  and  then  a  want 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION. 


141 


of  coincidence  in  the  parts  of  the  same  or  different  objects. 
Such  examples  are  of  no  unfrequent  occurrence,  but  thej  by- 
no  means  embarrass  them.  What  follows  proves  that  the 
workman,  on  discovering  his  error,  knew  how  to  rectify 
it.  A  wall  had  been  erected  with  the  view  of  sustaining  a 
vaulted  ceiling,  still  incomplete,  that  had  been  projected  from 
the  wall  of  the  opposite  chamber.  The  workman  who  began 
constructing  ft,  had  given  it  too  little  elevation  to  meet  the  op- 
posite partition  upon  which  it  was  to  rest.  Had  it  been  con- 
tinued on  the  original  plan,  it  must  infallibly  have  met  the  wall 
at  about  one  half  of  its  height,  and  this  it  was  necessary  to 
avoid.  This  state  of  things  very  forcibly  claimed  my  atten- 
tion, when  one  of  the  ants  arriving  at  the  place,  and  visiting 
the  works,  appeared  to  be  struck  by  the  difficulty  which  pre- 
sented itself;  but  this  it  as  soon  obviated,  by  taking  down  the 
ceiling  and  raising  the  wall  upon  which  it  reposed.  It  then  in 
my  presence,  constructed  a  new  ceiling  with  the  fragments  of 
the  former  one." — Hiiber's  Nat,  Hist,  of  Ants,  p.  38 — 41. 

Now  I  assert,  that  the  faculty  manifested  in  the  acts  here 
narrated  does  not  differ  in  kind  from  Understanding,  and  that 
it  does  so  differ  from  Reason.  What  I  conceive  the  former  to 
be.  Physiologically  considered,  will  be  shown  hereafter.  In 
this  place  I  take  the  Understanding  as  it  exists  in  Men,  and  in 
exclusive  reference  to  its  intelligential  functions;  and  it  is  in 
this  sense  of  the  word  that  I  am  to  prove  the  necessity  of  con- 
tra-distinguishing it  from  Reason. 

Premising  then,  that  two  or  more  Subjects  having  the  same 
essential  characters  are  said  to  fall  under  the  same  General 
Definition,  I  lay  it  down,  as  a  self-evident  truth,  (it  is,  in  fact, 
an  identical  proposition),  that  whatever  subjects  fall  under  one 
and  the  same  General  Definition  are  of  one  and  the  same 
kind :  consequently,  that  which  does  not  fall  under  this  defini- 
tion, must  differ  in  kind  from  each  and  all  of  those  that 
do.  Difference  in  degree  does  indeed  suppose  sameness  in 
kind :  and  difference  in  kind  precludes  distinction  from  differ- 
ences of  degree.  Heterogenea  non  comparari  er'go  nee  distin- 
gui  possunt.     The  inattention  to  this  Rule  gives  rise  to  the 


142  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION* 

numerous  Sophisms  comprised  by  Aristotle  under  the  head  of 
Msra/DaCig  £i^  aXXo  ysvog,  i.  c.  Transition  into  a  new  kind,  or  the 
falsely  appljdng  to  X  what  had  been  truly  asserted  of  A,  and 
might  have  been  true  of  X  had  it  differed  from  A  in  its  degree 
only.  The  sophistry  consists  in  the  omission  to  notice  what 
not  being  noticed  will  be  supposed  not  to  exist ;  and  where 
the  silence  respecting  the  difference  in  kind  is  tantamount  to 
an  assertion  that  the  difference  is  merely  in  degree.  But 
the  fraud  is  especially  gross,  where  the  heterogeneous  subject, 
thus  clandestinely  slipt  in^  is  in  its  own  nature  insusceptible  of 
degree  :  such  as,  for  instance,  Certainty  or  Circularity,  contrast- 
ed with  Strength,  or  Magnitude, 

To  apply  these  remarks  for  our  present  purpose,  we  have 
only  to  describe  Understanding  and  Reason,  each  by  its  char- 
acteristic qualities.     The  comparison  will  show  the  difference. 

UNDERSTANDING.  REASON. 

1.  Understanding  is  discur-  1.  Reason  is  fixed, 
sive. 

2.  The  Understanding  in  all  2.  The  Reason  in  all  its  de- 
its  judgments  refers  to  some  cisions  appeals  to  itself,  as  the 
other  Faculty  as]  its  ultimate  ground  and  substance  of  their 
Authority.  truth.     (Hehrews^\i,  \.V^). 

3.  Understanding  is  the  3.  Reason  of  Contempla- 
Faculty  of  Reflection.  tion.      Reason   indeed  is   far 

nearer  to  sense  than  to  Un- 
derstanding :  for  Reason  ( says 
our  great  Hooker)  is  a  direct 
Aspect  of  Truth,  an  inward 
Beholding,  having  a  similar 
relation  to  the  Intelligible  or 
Spiritual,  as  Sense  has  to  the 
Material  or  Phenomenal. 

The  Result  is,  that  neither  falls  under  the  definition  of  the 
other.  They  differ  in  A;mrf  :  and  had  my  object  been  confined 
to  the  establishment  of  this  fact,  the  preceding  Columns  would 
have  superseded  all  further  disquibition.     But  1  have  ever  in 


APHORISMS    OX    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  14 


t> 


view  the  especial  interests  of  my  youthful  Readers,  whose  re- 
fiectiv e  poivei'  is  to  be  cultivated,  as  well  as  their  particular  re- 
flections to  be  called  forth  and  guided.  Now  the  main  chance 
of  their  reflecting  on  religious  subjects  aright j  and  of  their  at- 
taining to  the  contemplation  of  spiritual  truths  at  allj  rests  on 
their  insight  into  the  nature  of  this  disparity  still  more  than 
on  their  conviction  of  its  existence.  I  now,  therefore,  proceed 
to  a  brief  analysis  of  the  Understanding,  in  elucidation  of  the 
definitions  already  given. 

The  Understanding  then  (considered  exclusively  as  an  or- 
gan of  human  intelligence),  is  the  Faculty  by  which  we  re- 
flect and  generalize.  Take,  for  instance,  any  Object  consist- 
ing of  many  parts,  a  House,  or  a  Group  of  Houses :  and  if  it 
be  contemplated,  as  a  Whole,  i.  e.  (as  many  constituting  a 
One),  it  forms  what  in  the  technical  language  of  Psychology 
is  called  a  total  impression.  Among  the  various  component 
parts  of  this,  we  direct  our  attention  especially  to  such  as  we 
recollect  to  have  noticed  in  other  total  impressions.  Then,  by 
a  voluntary  Act  we  withhold  our  attention  from  all  the  rest  to 
reflect  exclusively  on  these  :  and  these  we  henceforward  use 
as  common  characters^  by  virtue  of  which  the  several  Objects 
are  referred  to  one  and  the  same  sort,  [57].  Thus,  the  whole 
Process  may  be  reduced  to  three  acts,  all  depending  on  and  sup- 
posing a  previous  impression  on  the  Senses :  first,  the  appro- 
priation of  our  Attention  ;  2.  (and  in  order  to  the  continuance 
of  the  first)  Abstraction,  or  the  voluntary  withholding  of  the 
Attention  .  and  3.  Generalization.  And  these  are  the  proper 
Functions  of  the  Understanding  :  and  the  power  of  so  doing  is 
what  we  mean  when  we  say  w^e  possess  Understanding,  or  are 
created  with  the  Faculty  of  Understanding. 

[It  is  obvious,  that  the  third  Function  includes  the  act  of 
comparing  one  object  with  another.  In  a  note  (for,  not  to  in- 
terrupt the  argument,  I  avail  myself  of  this  most  useful  con- 
trivance), I  have  shown,  that  the  act  of  comparing  supposes 
in  the  comparing  Faculty  certain  inherent  Forms,  that  is. 
Modes  of  Reflecting  not  referable  to  the  Objects  reflected  on, 
but  pre-determined  by  the  Constitution  and  (as  it  were)  me- 


144  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

chanism  of  the  Understanding  itself.  And  under  some  one  or 
other  of  these  Forms[58],  the  Resemblances  and  Differences 
must  be  subsumed  in  order  to  be  conceivable,  and  a  fortiori 
therefore  in  order  to  be  comparable.  The  Senses  do  not 
compare,  but  merely  furnish  the  materials  for  comparison.  But 
this  the  Reader  will  iind  explained  in  the  Note  :  and  will  now 
cast  his  eye  back  to  the  sentence  immediately  preceding  this 
parenthesis]. 

Now  when  a  person  speaking  to  us  of  any  particular  Object 
or  Appearance  refers  it  by  means  of  some  common  character 
to  a  known  class  (which  he  does  in  giving  it  a  name),  we  say, 
that  we  understand  him  ;  e,  e.  we  understand  his  words.     The 
Name  of  a  thing,  in  the  original  sense  of  the  word  Name, 
(Nomen^  Nou/xsvov,  to  mtelligibile,  id  quod  intelligitur )  express- 
es that  which  is  understood  in  an  appearance,  that  which  we 
place  (or  make  to  stand)  under  it,  as  the  condition  of  its  real 
existence,  and  in  proof  that  it  is  not  an  accident  of  the  Senses, 
or  affection  of  the  Individual,  not  a  phantom  or  Apparition^  i, 
c.  an  Appearance  that  is  only  an  Appearance.     ( See  Gen.  ii. 
19,  20.     Thus  too,  in  Psalm  xx.  v.  1.  and  in  fifty  other  places 
of  the  Bible,  the  identity  of  nomen  with  numen,  i.  e.  invisible 
power  and  presence,  the  nomen  substantivum  of  all  real  Ob- 
jects, and  the  ground  of  their  reality,  independent  of  the  Af- 
fections of  Sense  in  the  Percipient).     In  like  manner,  in  a 
connected  succession  of  Names,  as  the  Speaker  passes  from 
one  to  the  other,  we  say  that  we  understand  his  discourse  (i, 
e.  discursio  intellectus,  discursus  from  discurso  or  discurro,  to 
course  or  pass  rapidly  from  one  thing  to  another).     Thus,  in 
all  instances,  it  is  words,  names,  or,  if  images,  yet  images  used 
as  words  or  names,  that  are  the  alone  subjects  of  Understand- 
ing.    In  no  instance  do  we  understand  a  thing  in  itself;  but 
only  the  name  to  which  it  is  referred.     Sometimes  indeed, 
when  several  classes  are  recalled  conjointly,  we  identify  the 
words  with  the  Object — though  by  courtesy  of  idiom  rather 
than  in  strict  propriety  of  language.     Thus,  we  may  say  that 
we  understand  a  Rainbow,  when  recalling  successively  the 
several  Names  for  the  several  sorts  of  Colours,  we  know  that 


APHORISMS  ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  145 

they  are  to  be  applied  to  one  and  the  same  Phasnomenon,  at 
once  distinctly  and  simTiitaneousiy  ;  but  even  in  common  par- 
lance we  should  not  say  this  of  a  single  colour.  No  one  would 
say  he  understands  Red  or  Blue.  He  sees  the  Colour,  and 
had  seen  it  before  in  a  vast  number  and  variety  of  objects ; 
and  he  understands  the  word  red,  as  referring  his  fancy  or  me- 
mory to  this  his  collective  experience. 

If  this  be  so  and  so  it  most  assuredly  is,  if  the  proper  functions 
of  the  understanding  be  that  of  generalizing  the  notices  recei- 
ved from  the  Senses  in  order  to  the  construction  of  Names ;  of 
referring  particular  notices  {i.  e.  impressions  or  sensations)  to 
their  proper  Name  ;  and  vice  versa,  names  to  their  correspond- 
ent class  or  kind  of  Notices — then  it  follows  of  necessity,  that 
the  understanding  is  truly  and  accurately  defined  in  the  words 
of  Leighton  and  Kant,  a  Faculty  judging  according  to  Sense^ 
Now  whether  in  defining  the  speculative  Reason  {i.  e.  the 
Reason  considered  abstractedly  as  an  intellective  Power)  we 
call  it  "  the  source  of  necessary  and  universal  Principles,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  Notices  of  the  Senses  are  either  affirm- 
ed or  denied  ;"  or  describe  it  as  "  the  Power  by  which  we  are 
enabled  to  draw  from  particular  and  contingent  Appearances 
universal  and  necessary  conclusions[59]:  it  is  equally  evident 
that  the  two  definitions  differ  in  their  essential  characters,  and 
consequently  (by  Axiom,  p.  142)  the  subjects  differ  in  kind. 

Q.  E.  D. 

The  dependence  of  the  Understanding  on  the  representa- 
tions of  the  Senses,  and  its  consequent  posteriority  thereto,  as 
contrasted  with  the  independence  and  antecedency  of  Reason, 
are  strikingly  exemplified  in  the  Ptolemaic  System  ( that  truly 
wonderful  product  and  highest  boast  of  the  Faculty,  judging 
according  to  the  Senses  ! )  compared  with  the  Newtonian,  as 
the  Offspring  of  a  yet  higher  Power,  arranging,  correcting,  and 
annulling  the  representations  of  the  Senses  according  to  its 
own  inherent  Laws  and  constitutive  Ideas. 

APHORISM  IX.  EDITOR. 

In  Wonder  all  Philosophy  began :  in  Wonder  it  ends :  and 

19 


146 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


Admiration  fills  up  the  interspace.  But  the  first  Wonder  is 
the  Offspring  of  Ignorance  :  the  last  is  the  Parent  of  Adora- 
tion. The  First  is  the  biith-throe  of  our  knowledge  :  the 
Last  is  its  euthanasy  and  apotheosis. 

SEQUELS  :    OR    THOUGHTS    SUGGESTED    BY    THE    PBKCKDIlirG 

APHORISM. 

As  in  respect  of  the  first  Wonder  we  are  all  on  the  same 
Level,  how  comes  it  that  the  philosophic  mind  should  in  all 
ages  be  the  privilege  of  a  Few  ?     The  most  obvious  reason  is 
this  :  The  Wonder  takes  place  before  the  period  of  Reflection, 
and  (with  the  great  Mass  of  Mankind)  long  before  the  Indi- 
vidual is  capable  of  directing  his  attention  freely  and  conscious- 
ly to  the  Feeling,  or  even  to  its  excitiiig  Causes.     Surprise 
(the  form  and  dress  which  the  Wonder  of  Ignorance  usually 
puts  on)  is  worn  away,  if  not  precluded,  by  Custom  and  Fa- 
miliarity.    So  is  it  with  the  Objects  of  the  Senses,  and  the 
ways  and  fashions  of  the  World  around  us :  even  as  Avith  the 
Beat  of  our  own  hearts,  which  we  notice  only  in  moments  of 
Fear  and  Perturbation.     But  with  regard  to  the  concerns  of 
our  inward  Being,  there  is  jet  another  cause  that  acts  in  con- 
cert with  the  power  in  Custom  to  prevent  a  fair  and  equal  ex- 
ertion of  reflective  Thought.     The  great  fundamental  Truths 
and  Doctrines  of  Religion,  the  existence  and  attributes  of  God, 
and  the  Life  after  Death,  are  in  Christian  Countries  taught  so 
early,  under  such  circumstances,  and  in  such  close  and  vital 
association  with  whatever  makes  or  marks  reality  for  our  in- 
fant minds,  that  the  words  ever  after   represent  sensations, 
feelings,  vital  assurances,  sense  of  reality — rather  than  thoughts, 
or   any  distinct  conception.     Associated,  /  had  almost  said 
identified,  with  the  parental  Voice,  Look,  Touch,  with   the 
living  warmth  and  pressure  of  the  Mother,  on  whose  lap  the 
Child  is  first  made  to  kneel,  within  whose  palms  its  little  hands 
are  folded,  and  the  motion  of  whose  eyes  its  eyes  follow  and 
imitate — (yea,  what  the  blue  sky  is  to  the  Mother,  the  Mo- 
ther's upraised  Eyes  and  Brow"  are  to  the  Child,  the  Type  and 
Symbol  of  an  invisible  Heaven  ! ) — from  w  ithin  and  from  with- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  147 

out,  these  great  First  Truths,  these  good  and  gracious  Tidings, 
these  holy  and  humanizing  Spells,  in  the  preconformity  to 
which  our  very  humanity  may  be  said  to  consist,  are  so  infu- 
sed, that  it  were  but  a  tame  and  inadequate  expression  to  say, 
we  all  take  them  for  granted.  At  a  later  period,  in  Youth  or 
early  Manhood,  most  of  us,  indeed,  (in  the  higher  and  middle 
classes  at  least )  read  or  hear  certain  Proofs  of  these  truths — 
which  we  commonly  listen  to,  when  we  listen  at  all,  with  much 
the  same  feelings  as  a  popular  Prince  on  his  Coronation  Day, 
in  the  centre  of  a  fond  and  rejoicing  Nation,  may  be  supposed 
to  hear  the  Champion's  challenge  to  all  the  Non-existents,  that 
deny  or  dispute  his  Rights  and  Royalty.  In  fact,  the  order  of 
Proof  is  most  often  reversed  or  transposed.  As  far,  at  least, 
as  I  dare  judge  from  the  goings  on  in  my  own  mind,  when  with 
keen  delight  I  first  read  the  works  of  Derham,  Niewentiet, 
and  Lyonet,  I  should  say,  that  the  full  and  life-like  conviction 
of  a  gracious  Creator  is  the  Proof  ( at  all  events,  performs  the 
office  and  answers  all  the  purpose  of  a  proof)  of  the  wisdom 
and  benevolence  in  the  construction  of  the  Creature. 

Do  1  blame  this  ?  Do  I  wish  it  to  be  otherwise  ?  God  forbid ! 
It  is  only  one  of  its  accidental,  but  too  frequent,  consequences, 
of  which  I  complain,  and  against  which  I  protest.  I  regret 
nothing  that  tends  to  make  the  Light  become  the  Life  of  men, 
even  as  the  Life  in  the  eternal  Word  is  their  alone  true  light. 
But  I  do  regret,  that  in  after  years — when  by  occasion  of  some 
new  dispute  on  some  old  heresy,  or  any  other  accident,  the 
attention  has  for  the  first  time  been  distinctly  attracted  to  the 
superstructure  raised  on  these  fundamental  truths,  or  to  truths 
of  later  revelation  supplemental  of  these  and  not  less  impor- 
tant— all  the  doubts  and  difficulties,  that  cannot  but  arise  where 
the  Understanding,  "  the  mind  of  the  fleshj^^  is  made  the  mea- 
sure of  spiritual  things ;  all  the  sense  of  strangeness  and  seem- 
ing contradiction  in  terms ;  all  the  Marvel  and  the  Mystery 
that  belong  equally  to  both  ;  are  first  thought  of  and  applied 
in  objection  exclusively  to  the  latter.  I  would  disturb  no 
man's  faith  in  the  great  articles  of  the  (falsely  so  called)  Re- 
ligion of  Nature.     But  before  the  man  rejects,  and  calls  on 


148  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

other  men  to  reject,  the  revelations  of  the  Gospel  and  the  Re- 
ligion of  all  Christendom,  I  would  have  him  place  himself  in 
the  state  and  under  all  the  privations  of  a  Simonides,  when  on 
the  fortieth  day  of  his  meditation  the  sage  and  philosophic  Po- 
et abandoned  the  Problem  in  despair.  Ever  and  anon  he  seem- 
ed to  have  hold  of  the  truth  ;  but  when  he  asked  himself,  what 
he  meant  by  it,  it  escaped  from  him,  or  resolved  itself  into 
meanings,  that  destroyed  each  other.  I  would  have  the  Scep- 
tic, while  yet  a  Sceptic  only,  seriously  consider  whether  a  Doc- 
trine, of  the  truth  of  which  a  Socrates  could  obtain  no  other 
assurance  than  what  he  derived  from  his  strong  ivish  that  it 
should  be  true ;  or  that  which  Plato  found  a  Mystery  hard  to 
discover,  and  when  discovered,  communicable  only  to  the  few- 
est of  men  ;  can,  consonantly  v/ith  History  or  Common  Sense, 
be  classed  among  the  Articles,  the  belief  of  which  is  ensured 
to  all  men  by  their  mere  common  sense  ?  Whether,  without 
gross  outrage  to  fact,  they  can  be  said  to  constitute  a  Religion 
of  nature,  or  a  Natural  Theology  antecedent  to  Revelation  or 
superseding  its  necessity?  Yes!  in  prevention  (for  there  is 
little  chance,  I  fear,  of  a  cure)  of  the  pugnacious  dogmatism 
of  partial  Reflection,  I  would  prescribe  to  every  man,  who 
feels  a  commencing  alienation  from  the  Catholic  Faith,  and 
whose  studies  and  attainments  authorise  him  to  argue  on  the 
subject  at  all,  a  patient  and  thoughtful  perusal  of  the  arguments 
and  representations  which  Bayle  supposes  to  have  passed 
through  the  mind  of  Simonides.  Or  I  should  be  fully  satisfied 
if  I  could  induce  these  Eschewers  of  Mystery  to  give  a  pa- 
tient, manly,  and  impartial  perusal  to  the  single  Treatise  of 
Pomponatius,  De  Fato[60]. 

When  they  have  fairly  and  satisfactorily  overthrown  the  ob- 
jections and  cleared  away  the  difficulties  urged  by  this  sharp- 
witted  Italian  against  the  Doctrines  which  they  profess  to  re- 
tain, then  let  them  commence  their  attack  on  those  which  they 
reject.  As  far  as  the  supposed  irrationality  of  the  latter  is  the 
ground  of  Argument,  I  am  much  deceived  if  on  reviewing 
their  forces  they  would  not  find  the  ranks  woefully  thinned  by 
the  success  of  their  own  fire  in  the  preceding  Engagement — 


APHORISMa    ON    SPIRITUJ.L    RELIGION.  149 

unless,  indeed,  by  pure  heat  of  Controversy,  and  to  storm  the 
lines  of  their  Antagonists,  they  can  bring  to  life  again  the  Argu- 
ments, which  they  had  themselves  killed  off  in  the  defence  of 
their  own  positions.  In  vain  shall  we  seek  for  any  other  mode 
of  meeting  the  broad  facts  of  the  scientific  Epicurean,  or  the  re- 
quisitions and  queries  of  the  all-analysing  Pyrrhonist,  than  by 
challenging  the  tribunal  to  which  they  appeal,  as  incompetent 
to  try  the  question.  In  order  to  non-suit  the  infidel  Plaintiff, 
we  must  remove  the  cause  from  the  Faculty,  that  judges  accord- 
ing to  Sense,  and  whose  judgments,  therefore,  are  valid  only 
on  objects  of  Sense,  to  the  Superior  Courts  of  Conscience  and 
intuitive  Reason  !  "  The  words  I  speak  unto  you^  are  Spirit,''^ 
and  such  only  "  are  Ufe^^''  i.  e.  have  an  inward  and  actual  power 
abiding  in  them. 

But  the  same  truth  is  at  once  Shield  and  Bow.  The  Shaft  of 
Atheism  glances  aside  from  it  to  strike  and  pierce  the  breast- 
plate of  the  Heretic.  Well  for  the  Latter,  if  plucking  the 
weapon  from  the  wound  he  recognizes  an  arrow  from  his  own 
Quiver,  and  abandons  a  cause  that  connects  him  with  such 
Confederates !  Without  further  rhetoric,  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  the  Argument  is  this :  an  insight  into  the  proper 
functions  and  subaltern  rank  of  the  Understanding  may  not, 
indeed,  disarm  the  Psilanthropist  of  his  metaphorical  Glosses, 
or  of  his  Versions  fresh  from  the  forge  and  with  no  other  stamp 
than  the  private  mark  of  the  individual  Manufacturer ;  but  it 
will  deprive  him  of  the  only  rational  pretext  for  having  re- 
course to  tools  so  liable  to  abuse,  and  of  such  perilous  exam- 
ple. 

COMMENT. 

Since  the  preceding  pages  were  composed,  and  during  an 
interim  of  depression  and  disqualification,  I  heard  with  a  de- 
light and  an  interest,  that  I  might  without  hyperbole  call  me- 
dicinal, that  the  contra-distinction  of  Understanding  from  Rea- 
son, for  which  during  twenty  years  I  have  been  contending, 
"casting  my  bread  upon  the  Waters"  with  a  perseverance, 
which  in  the  existing  state  of  the  public  taste  nothing  but  the 


150  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

deepest  conviction  of  its  importance  could  have  inspired — has 
been  lately  adopted  and  sanctioned  by  the  present  distinguish- 
ed Professor  of  Anatomy,  in  the  Course  of  Lectures  given 
by  him  at  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  on  the  Zoological 
part  of  Natural  History  ;  and  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  in  one 
of  the  eloquent  and  impressive  introductory  Discourses.  In 
explaining  the  Nature  of  Instinct,  as  deduced  from  the  actions 
and  tendencies  of  animals  successively  presented  to  the  Ob- 
servation of  the  Comparative  Physiologist  in  the  ascending 
Scale  of  Organic  Life — or  rather,  I  should  have  said,  in  an  at- 
tempt to  determine  that  precise  import  of  the  Term,  w^hich  is 
required  by  the  facts [61] — the  Professor  explained  the  nature 
of  what  I  have  elsewhere  called  the  Adaptive  Power,  i.  e.  the 
faculty  of  adapting  means  to  proximate  ends.  [N.  B.  I  mean 
here  a  relative  end — that  which  relatively  to  one  thing  is  an 
end,  though  relatively  to  some  other  it  is  itself  a  means.  It  is 
to  be  regretted,  that  we  have  no  single  word  to  express  these 
ends,  that  are  not  the  end :  for  the  distinction  between  these 
and  an  end  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term  is  an  important 
one.]  The  Professor,  I  say,  not  only  explained,  first,  the  Na- 
ture of  the  Adaptive  Power  in  genere,  and,  secondly,  the  dis- 
tinct character  of  the  same  Power  as  it  exists  specifically  and 
exclusively  in  the  human  being,  and  acquires  the  name  of  Un- 
derstanding ;  but  he  did  it  in  a  way  which  gave  the  whole  sum 
and  substance  of  my  convictions,  of  all  I  had  so  long  wished, 
and  so  often,  but  with  such  imperfect  success,  attempted  to 
convey,  free  from  all  semblance  of  Paradoxy,  and  from  all  oc- 
casion of  offence — omnem  offendiculi[62]  ansam  praecidens. 
It  is,  indeed  for  the  fragmentar^y  reader  only  that  I  have  any 
scruple.  In  those  who  have  had  the  patience  to  accompany 
me  so  far  on  the  up-hill  road  to  manly  Principles,  I  can  have 
no  reason  to  guard  against  that  disposition  to  hasty  offence 
from  Anticipation  of  Consequences,  that  faithless  and  loveless 
spirit  of  fear  which  plunged  Galilseo  into  a  Prison  [63] — a  spi- 
rit most  unworthy  of  an  educated  man,  who  ought  to  have 
learnt  that  the  Mistakes  of  scientific  men  have  never  injured 
Christianity,  while  every  new  truth  discovered  by  them  has 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  151 

either  added  to  its  evidence,  or  prepared  the  mind  for  its  re- 
ception. 

ON  INSTINCT  IN  CONNEXION  WITH  THE  UNDERSTANDING. 

It  is  evident  that  the  definition  of  a  Genus  or  Class  is  an 
adequate  definition  onlj  of  the  lowest  species  of  that  Genus : 
for  each  higher  species  is  distinguished  from  the  lower  by  some 
additional  character,  while  the  General  Definition  includes  only 
the  characters  common  to  all  the  Species.  Consequently  it 
describes  the  lowest  only.  Now  I  distinguish  a  Genus  or  kind 
of  Powers  under  the  name  of  Adaptive  Power,  and  give  as  its 
generic  definition — the  Power  of  selecting,  and  adapting  means 
to  proximate  ends  ;  and  as  an  instance  of  the  lowest  species  of 
this  Genus,  I  take  the  stomach  of  a  Caterpillar.  I  ask  myself, 
under  what  words  I  can  generalize  the  action  of  this  Organ ; 
and  I  see,  that  it  selects  and  adapts  the  appropriate  means  [i. 
e.  the  assimilable  part  of  the  vegetable  congesta)  to  the  prox- 
imate end,  i.  e.  the  growth  or  reproduction  of  the  Insect's  Bo- 
dy. This  we  call  vital  power,  or  vita  propria  of  the  Stom- 
ach ;  and  this  being  the  lowest  species,  its  definition  is  the 
same  with  the  definition  of  the  kind. 

Well!  from  the  Power  of  the  Stomach  I  pass  to  the  Power 
exerted  by  the  whole  animal.  I  trace  it  wandering  from  spot 
to  spot,  and  plant  to  plant,  till  it  finds  the  appropriate  vegeta- 
ble; and  again  on  this  chosen  vegetable,  I  mark  it  seeking  out 
and  fixing  on  the  part  of  the  plant,  bark,  leaf,  or  petal,  suited 
to  its  nourishment:  or  (should  the  animal  have  assumed  the 
butterfly  form),  to  the  deposition  of  its  eggs,  and  the  sustenta- 
tion  of  the  future  Larva.  Here  I  see  a  power  of  selecting  and 
adapting  means  to  proximate  ends  according  to  circumstances : 
and  this  higher  species  of  Adaptive  Power  we  call  Instinct. 

Lastly,  I  reflect  on  the  facts  narrated  and  described  in  the 
preceding  extracts  from  Hiiber,  and  see  a  power  of  selecting 
and  adapting  the  proper  means  to  the  proximate  ends,  accord- 
ing to  varying  circumstances.  And  what  shall  we  call  this  yet 
higher  species  ?  We  name  the  former.  Instinct :  we  must  call 
this  Instinctive  Intelligence. 


152  AIDS   TO   REFLECTION. 

Here  then  we  have  three  Powers  of  the  same  kind,  Life, 
Instinct,  and  instinctive  Intelligence  :  the  essential  characters 
that  define  the  genus  existing  equally  in  all  three.  But  in 
addition  to  these,  I  find  one  other  character  common  to  the 
highest  and  lowest:  viz.  that  the  purposes  are  all  manifestly 
pre-deterniined  by  the  peculiar  organization  of  the  Animals ; 
and  though  it  may  not  be  possible  to  discover  any  such  imme- 
diate dependency  in  all  the  Actions,  yet  the  Actions  being  de- 
termined by  the  purposes,  the  result  is  equivalent :  and  both 
the  Actions  and  Purposes  are  all  in  a  necessitated  reference  to 
the  preservation  and  continuance  of  the  particular  Animal  or 
of  the  Progeny.  There  is  selection,  but  not  choice  :  volition 
rather  than  Will.  The  possible  knowledge  of  a  thing,  or  the 
desire  to  have  the  thing  representable  by  a  distinct  correspon- 
dent Thought^  does  not,  in  the  animal,  suffice  to  render  the 
thing  an  object^  or  the  ground  of  a  purpose.  I  select  and 
adapt  the  proper  means  to  the  separation  of  a  stone  from  a 
rock,  which  I  neither  can,  or  desire  to,  make  use  of  for  food, 
shelter,  or  ornament :  because,  perhaps,  I  wish  to  measure 
the  angles  ofits  primary  crystals,  or  perhaps,  for  no  better  reason 
than  the  apparent  difficulty  of  loosening  the  stone — stat  pro 
ratione  Voluntas — and  thus  make  a  motive  out  of  the  absence 
of  all  motive,  and  a  reason  out  of  the  arbitrary  will  to  act  with- 
out any  reason. 

Now  what  is  the  conclusion  from  these  premises  ?  Evident- 
ly this:  that  if  I  suppose  the  Adaptive  Power  in  its  highest 
species  or  form  of  Instinctive  Intelligence  to  co-exist  with 
Reason,  Free  will,  and  Self-consciousness,  it  instantly  becomes 
understanding:  in  other  words,  that  Understanding  differs 
indeed  from  the  noblest  form  of  Instinct,  but  not  in  itself  or  in 
its  own  essential  properties,  but  in  consequence  of  its  co-exis- 
tence with  far  higher  Powers  of  a  diverse  kind  in  one  and  the 
same  Subject.  Instinct  in  a  rational,  lesponsible,  and  self- 
conscious  Animal,  is  Understanding. 

Such  I  apprehend  to  have  been  the  Professor's  View  and 
Exposition  of  Instinct — and  in  confirmation  of  its  truth,  I  would 
merely  request  my  Readers,  from  the  numerous  well-authen- 


ATHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION".  153 

ticated  instances  on  record,  to  recall  some  one  of  the  extraor- 
dinary actions  of  Dogs  for  the  preservation  of  their  Masters' 
lives,  and  even  for  the  avenging  of  their  deaths.  In  these  in- 
stances we  have  the  third  species  of  the  Adaptive  Power,  in 
connexion  with  an  apparently  7)ioral  end — with  an  end  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word.  Here  the  Adaptive  Power  co-ex- 
ists with  a  purpose  apparently  voluntary^  and  the  action  seems 
neither  pre-determined  by  the  organization  of  the  Animal,  nor 
in  any  direct  reference  to  his  own  preservation,  or  to  the  con- 
tinuance of  his  race.  It  is  united  with  an  imposing  semblance 
of  Gratitude,  Fidelity,  and  disinterested  Love.  We  not  only 
value  the  faithful  brute  ;  we  attribute  worth  to  him.  This,  I 
admit,  is  a  problem,  of  which  I  have  no  solution  to  offer.  One 
of  the  wisest  of  uninspired  men  has  not  hesitated  to  declare 
the  Dog  a  great  mystery,  on  account  of  this  dawning  of  a  moral 
nature  unaccompanied  by  any  the  least  evidence  of  Reason, 
in  whichever  of  the  two  senses  we  interpret  the  w  ord — wheth- 
er as  the  practical  Reason,  i.  e.  the  power  of  proposing  an  ul- 
timate end,  the  determinability  of  the  Will  by  ideas  :  or  as 
the  sciential  Reason,  i.  e.  the  faculty  of  concluding  universal 
and  necessary  truths  from  particular  and  contingent  appearan- 
ces. But  in  a  question  respecting  the  possesion  of  Reason, 
the  absence  of  all  proof  is  tantamount  to  a  proof  of  the  contra- 
ry. It  is,  however,  by  no  means  equally  clear  to  me,  that  the 
Dog  may  not  possess  an  analogon  of  Words,  which  I  have 
elsewhere  shown  to  be  the  proper  objects  of  the  ''  Faculty, 
judging  according  to  Sense." 

But  to  return  to  my  purpose:  I  entreat  the  Reader  to  re- 
flect on  any  one  fact  of  this  kind,  whether  occurring  in  his  own 
experience,  or  selected  from  the  numerous  anecdotes  of  the 
Dog  preserved  in  the  writings  of  Zoologists.  I  will  then  con- 
fidently appeal  to  him,  whether  it  is  in  his  power  not  to  con- 
sider the  faculty  displayed  in  these  actions  as  the  same  in  kind 
with  the  Understanding,  however  inferior  in  degree.  Or 
should  he  even  in  these  instances  prefer  calling  it  Instinct,  and 
this  in  con/ra-distinction  from  Understanding ,  I  call  on  him 
to  point  out  the  boundary  between  the  two,  the  cliasm  or  par- 

20 


154  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

tition-wall  that  divides  or  separates  the  one  from  the  other. 
If  he  can,  he  will  have  done  what  none  before  him  have  been 
able  to  do,  though  many  and  eminent  men  have  tried  hard  for 
it :  and  my  recantation  shall  be  among  the  first  trophies  of 
his  success.  If  he  cannot,  I  must  infer  that  he  is  controlled 
by  his  dread  of  the  consequences,  by  an  apprehension  of  some 
injury  resulting  to  Religion  or  Morality  from  this  opinion ;  and 
I  shall  console  myself  with  the  hope,  that  in  the  sequel  of  this 
work  he  will  find  proofs  of  the  direct  contrary  tendency.  Not 
only  is  this  view  of  the  Understanding,  as  differing  in  degree 
from  Instinct  and  in  kind  from  Reason,  innocent  in  its  possible 
influences  on  the  religious  character,  but  it  is  an  indispensible 
preliminary  to  the  removal  of  the  most  formidable  obstacles  to 
an  intelligent  Belief  of  the  pecidiar  Doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  of 
the  characteristic  Articles  of  the  Christian  Faith,  with  which 
the  Advocates  of  the  truth  in  Christ  have  to  contend ;  the  evil 
heart  of  Unbelief  alone  excepted. 

REFLECTIONS    BY  THE   EDITOR    INTRODUCTORY  TO    APHORISM 

THE  TENTH. 

The  most  momentous  question  a  man  can  ask  is.  Have  I  a 
Saviour !  And  yet,  as  far  as  the  individual  Querist  is  con- 
cerned it  is  premature  and  to  no  purpose,  except  another  ques- 
tion has  been  previously  put  and  answered  (alas  !  too  generally 
put  after  the  wounded  Conscience  has  already  given  the  an- 
swer!) viz.  Have  I  any  need  of  a  Saviour?  For  him  who 
needs  none,  ( O,  bitter  irony  of  the  Evil  Spirit,  whose  whis- 
pers the  proud  Soul  takes  for  its  own  thoughts,  and  knows  not 
how  the  Tempter  is  scofiing  the  while  ! )  there  is  none,  as  long 
as  he  feels  no  need.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  scarce  possible 
to  have  answered  this  question  in  the  affirmative,  and  not  ask — 
first,  in  ivhat  the  necessity  consists  ?  secondly,  ivhence  it  pro- 
ceeded ?  and,  thirdly,  how  far  the  answer  to  this  second  ques- 
tion is  or  is  not  contained  in  the  answer  to  the  first !  I  entreat 
the  intelligent  Reader,  who  has  taken  me  as  his  temporary 
guide  on  the  strait,  but  yet,  from  the  number  of  cross  roads, 
difficult  way  of  religious  Inquiry,  to  halt  a  moment,  and   con- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL,    RELIGION.  155 

sider  the  main  points  that  in  this  last  division  of  our  work 
have  been  aheady  offered  for  his  reflection.  I  have  attempted 
then  to  fix  the  proper  meaning  of  the  words  Nature  and  Spirit, 
the  one  being  the  antithesis  to  the  other :  so  that  the  most 
general  and  negative  definition  of  Nature  is,  Whatever  is  not 
Spirit ;  and  vice  versa  of  Spirit,  That  \\  hich  is  not  compre- 
hended in  Nature  :  or  in  the  language  of  our  elder  Divines, 
that  which  transcends  Nature.  But  Nature  is  the  term  in 
which  we  comprehend  all  things  that  are  representable  in  the 
forms  of  Time  and  Space,  and  subjected  to  tl\c  Relations  of 
Cause  and  Eft'ect :  and  the  cause  of  whose  existence  therefore 
is  to  be  sought  for  perpetually  in  something  Antecedent.  The 
word  itself  expresses  this  in  the  strongest  manner  possible  : 
Natura,  that  which  is  about  to  be  born,  that  which  is  always 
becoming.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  whatever  originates  its 
own  acts,  or  in  any  sense  contains  in  itself  the  cause  of  its  own 
state,  must  be  spiritual^  and  consequently  super -natural :  jet 
not  on  that  account  necessarily  miraculous.  And  such  must 
the  responsible  Will  in  us  be,  if  it  be  at  all.  ( See  p.  87 — 92. ) 

A  prior  step  had  been  to  remove  all  misconceptions  from 
tho  subject ;  to  show  the  reasonableness  of  a  belief  in  the  real- 
ity and  real  influence  of  a  universal  and  divine  Spirit ;  the 
compatibility  and  possible  communion  of  such  a  Spirit  with  the 
Spiritual  Piinciple  in  Individuals;  and  the  analogy  off'ered  by 
the  most  undeniable  truths  of  Natural  Philosophy  [64].  (See 
p.  41—46). 

These  Views  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  the  Will  as  Spiritual, 
form  the  ground- work  of  our  Scheme.  Among  the  numerous 
Corollaries  or  Appendents,  the  first  that  presented  itself  re- 
spects the  question,  Whether  there  is  any  faculty  in  man  hy 
which  a  knowledge  of  spiritual  truths  or  of  any  truths  not  ab- 
stracted from  Nature,  is  rendered  possible?  and  an  Answer  is 
attempted  in  Comment  on  Aphorism  Vlllth.  And  here  I  beg 
leave  to  remark,  that  in  this  Comment  the  only  Novelty,  and, 
if  there  be  Merit,  the  only  Merit  is — that  there  being  two  very 
different  Meanings,  and  two  different  W^ords,  I  have  here  and 
in    former  Works   appropriated  one    meaning    to  one  oi   the 


156  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Words,  and  the  other  to  the  other — instead  of  using  the  words 
indifferently  and  by  hap-hazard  :  a  confusion,  the  ill  effects  of 
which  in  this  instance  are  so  great  and  of  such  frequent  occur- 
rence in  the  works  of  our  ablest  Philosophers  and  Divines,  that 
I  should  select  it  before  all  others  in  proof  of  Hobbes's  Maxim  : 
that  it  is  a  short  and  downhill  passage  from  errors  in  words  to 
errors  in  things.  The  distinctness  of  the  Reason  from  the  Un- 
derstanding, and  the  imperfection  and  limited  sphere  of  the  lat- 
ter, have  been  asserted  by  many  both  before  and  since  Lord 
Bacon [65]  ;  but  still  the  habit  of  using  Reason  and  Understand- 
ing as  synonymes,  acted  as  a  disturbing  force.  Some  it  led 
into  mysticism,  others  it  set  on  explaining  away  a  clear  differ- 
ence in  kind  into  a  mere  superiority  in  degree  :  and  it  partially 
eclipsed  the  truth  for  all. 

In  close  connexion  with  this,  and  therefore  forming  the 
Comment  on  the  Aphorism  next  following,  is  the  Subject  of 
the  legitimate  exercise  of  the  Understanding  and  its  limitation 
to  Objects  of  Sense ;  with  the  errors  both  of  unbelief  and 
of  misbelief,  that  result  from  its  extension  beyond  the  sphere 
of  possible  Experience.  Wherever  the  forms  of  Reasoning 
appropriate  only  to  the  natural  world  are  applied  to  spiritnal 
realities,  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  the  more  strictly  logical  the 
Reasoning  is  in  all  its  parts,  the  more  irrational  it  is  as  a  whole. 

The  Reader  thus  armed  and  prepared,  I  now  venture  to  pre- 
sent the  so  called  mysteries  of  Faith,  i.  e.  the  peculiar  tenets 
and  especial  Constituents  of  Christianity,  or  Religion  in  spirit 
and  in  truth.  In  right  order  I  must  have  commenced  with  the 
Articles  of  the  Trinity  and  the  Apostacy,  including  the  ques- 
tion respecting  the  Origin  of  Evil,  and  the  Incarnation  of  the 
Word.  And  could  I  have  followed  this  order,  some  difficul- 
ties that  now  press  on  me  would  have  been  obviated.  But  (as 
has  already  been  explained)  the  limits  of  the  present  Volume 
rendered  it  alike  impracticable  and  inexpedient ;  for  the  ne- 
cessity of  my  argument  would  have  called  forth  certain  hard, 
though  most  true  sayings,  respecting  the  hollowness  and  trick- 
sy sophistry  of  the  so  called  "  Natural  Theology,"  ''  Religion 
of  Nature,"  ''  Light  of  Nature^"  &c.  which  a  brief  exposition 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  157 

could  not  save  from  innocent  misconceptions,  much  less  pro- 
tect against  plausible  misinterpretation.  And  yet  both  Reason 
and  Experience  have  convinced  me,  that  in  the  greater  num- 
ber of  our  Alogi,  who  feed  on  the  husks  of  Christianity,  the 
disbelief  of  the  Trinity,  the  Divinity  of  Christ  included,  has 
its  origin  and  support  in  the  assumed  self-evidence  of  this  Na- 
tural Theology,  and  in  their  ignorance  of  the  insurmountable 
difficulties  which  (on  the  same  mode  of  reasoning)  press  upon 
the  fundamental  articles  of  their  own  Remnant  of  a  Creed. 
But  arguments,  which  would  prove  the  falsehood  of  a  known 
truth,  must  themselves  be  false,  and  can  prove  the  falsehood  of 
no  other  position  in  eodem  genere. 

This  hint  I  have  thrown  out  as  a  Spark  that  may  perhaps 
fall  where  it  will  kindle.  The  Reader  desirous  of  more  is 
again  referred  to  the  Work  already  announced.  And  worthi- 
ly might  the  wisest  of  men  make  inquisition  into  the  three  mo- 
mentous points  here  spoken  of,  for  the  purposes  of  speculative 
Insight,  and  for  the  formation  of  enlarged  and  systematic  views 
of  the  destination  of  Man,  and  the  dispensation  of  God.  But 
the  practical  Inquirer  (I  speak  not  of  those  who  inquire  for 
the  gratification  of  Curiosity,  and  still  less  of  those  who  labour 
as  students  only  to  shine  as  disputants ;  but  of  one,  who  seeks 
the  truth,  because  he  feels  the  want  of  it),  the  practical  Inqui- 
rer, I  say,  hath  already  placed  his  foot  on  the  rock,  if  he  have 
satisfied  himself  that  whoever  needs  not  a  Redeemer  is  more 
than  human.  Remove  for  him  the  difficulties  and  objections, 
that  oppose  or  perplex  his  belief  of  a  crucified  Saviour  ;  con- 
vince him  of  the  reality  of  Sin,  which  is  impossible  without  a 
knowledge  of  its  true  nature  and  inevitable  Consequences ; 
and  then  satisfy  him  as  to  the  fact  historically,  and  as  to  the 
truth  spiritually,  of  a  redemption  therefrom  by  Christ ;  do  this 
for  him,  and  there  is  little  fear  that  he  will  permit  either  logi- 
cal quirks  or  metaphysical  puzzles  to  contravene  the  plain  dic- 
tate of  his  Common  Sense,  the  Sinless  One  that  redeemed 
Mankind  from  Sin,  must  have  been  more  than  Man ;  and  that 
He  who  brought  Light  and  Immortality  into  the  World,  could 
not  in  his  own  nature  have  been  an  inheritor  of  Death  and 


158  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Darkness.  It  is  morally  impossible,  that  a  man  with  these  con- 
victions should  suffer  the  Objection  of  Incomprehensibility  (and 
this  on  a  subject  of  Faith)  to  overbalance  the  manifest  absurd- 
ity and  contradiction  in  the'notion  of  a  mediator  between  God 
and  the  Human  Race,  at  the  same  infinite  distance  from  God 
as  the  Race  for  whom  he  mediates. 

The  Origin  of  Evil,  meanw^hile,  is  a  question  interesting 
only  to  the  Metaphysician,  and  in  a  system  of  moral  and  reli- 
gious Philosophy.  The  man  of  sober  mind,  who  seeks  for 
truths  that  possess  a  moral  and  practical  interest,  is  content  to 
be  cei'tain^  first,  that  Evil  must  have  had  a  beginning,  since 
otherwise  it  must  either  be  God,  or  a  co-eternal  and  co-equal 
Rival  of  God ;  both  impious  notions,  and  the  latter  foolish  to 
boot.  2dly,  That  it  could  not  originate  in  God  ;  for  if  so,  it 
would  be  at  once  Evil  and  not  Evil,  or  God  would  be  at  once 
God  (that  is,  infinite  Goodness)  and  not  God — both  alike  im- 
possible positions.  Instead  therefore  of  troubling  himself  with 
this  barren  controversy,  he  more  profitably  turns  his  enquiries 
to  that  Evil  which  most  concerns  himself,  and  of  which  he 
may  find  the  origin. 

The  entire  Scheme  of  necessary  Faith  may  be  reduced  to 
two  heads,  1.  the  Object  and  Occasion,  and  2.  the  fact  and  ef- 
fect, of  our  redemption  by  Christ :  and  to  this  view  does  the 
order  of  the  following  Comments  correspond.  I  have  begun 
with  Original  Sin,  and  proceeded  in  the  following  Aphorism 
to  the  doctrine  of  Redemption.  The  Comments  on  the  re- 
maining Aphorisms  are  all  subsidiary  to  these,  or  written  in 
the  hope  of  making  the  minor  tenets  of  general  belief  be  be- 
lieved in  a  spirit  worthy  of  these.  They  are,  in  short,  intend- 
ed to  supply  a  febrifuge  against  aguish  Scruples  and  Horrors, 
the  hectic  of  the  Soul !  and  "  for  servile  and  thrall-like  fear 
to  substitute  that  adoptive  and  cheerful  boldness,  which  our 
new  alliance  with  God  requires  of  us  as  Christians."  (Mil- 
ton). Not  the  Origin  of  Evil,  not  the  Chronology  of  Sin, 
or  the  chronicles  of  the  original  Sinner ;  but  Sin  originant,  un- 
derived  from  without,  and  no  passive  link  in  the  adamantine 
chain  of  Effects,  each  of  which  is  in  its  turn  an  instrument  of 


APHORIS3IS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  159 

Causation,  but  no  one  of  them  a  Cause  !  not  with  Sin  inflict- 
ed^ which  would  be  a  Calamity!  not  with  Sin  [i.  e.  an  evil 
tendency)  implanted^  for  which  let  the  Planter  be  responsible  ! 
But  I  begin  with  Original  Sin.  And  for  this  purpose  I  have 
selected  the  Aphorism  from  the  ablest  and  most  formidable 
Antagonist  of  this  Doctrine,  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor,  and 
from  the  most  eloquent  work  of  this  most  eloquent  of  Divines. 
Had  I  said,  of  Men,  the  Soul  of  Cicero  would  forgive  me, 
and  Demosthenes  nod  assent [66]! 

APHORISM   X.  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

ON  ORIGINAL  SIN. 

Is  there  any  such  thing  ?  That  is  not  the  question.  For  it 
is  a  Fact  acknowledged  on  all  hands  almost :  and  even  those 
who  will  not  confess  it  in  words,  confess  it  in  their  complaints. 
For  my  part  I  connot  but  confess  that  to  6c,  which  I  feel  and 
groan  under,  and  by  which  all  the  world  is  miserable. 

Adam  turned  his  back  on  the  Sun,  and  dwelt  in  the  Dark 
and  the  Shadow.  He  sinned,  and  brought  evil  into  his  Super- 
natural endowments,  and  lost  the  Sacrament  and  instrument 
of  Immortality,  the  Tree  of  Life  in  the  centre  of  the  Garden. 
He  then  fell  under  the  evils  of  a  sickly  Body,  and  a  passion- 
ate and  ignorant  Soul.  His  Sin  made  him  sickly,  his  Sickness 
made  him  peevish :  his  Sin  left  him  ignorant,  his  Ignorance 
made  him  foolish  and  unreasonable.  His  sin  left  him  to  his 
Nature :  and  by  Nature,  whoever  was  to  be  born  at  all  was  to 
be  born  a  child,  and  to  do  before  he  could  understand,  and  to 
be  bred  under  laws  to  which  he  was  always  bound,  but  which 
could  not  always  be  exacted  ;  and  he  was  to  choose  when  he 
could  not  reason,  and  had  passions  most  strong  when  he  had 
his  understanding  most  weak ;  and  the  more  need  he  had  of  a 
curb,  the  less  strength  he  had  to  use  it !  And  this  being  the 
case  of  all  the  world,  what  was  every  man's  evil  became  all 
men's  greater  evil ;  and  though  alone  it  was  very  bad,  yet 
when  they  came  together  it  was  made  much  worse.  Like 
ships  in  a  storm,  every  one  alone  hath  enough  to  do  to  outride 


160  .  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

it ;  but  when  they  meet,  besides  the  evils  of  the  Storm,  they 
find  the  intolerable  calamity  of  their  mutual  concussion ;  and 
every  Ship  that  is  ready  to  be  oppressed  vi^ith  the  tempest,  is 
a  worse  Tempest  to  every  Vessel  against  which  it  is  violently 
dashed.  So  it  is  in  Mankind.  Every  man  hath  evil  enough 
of  his  own,  and  it  is  hard  for  a  man  to  live  up  to  the  rule  of 
his  own  Reason  and  Conscience.  But  when  he  hath  Parents 
and  Children,  Friends  and  Enemies,  Buyers  and  Sellers,  Law- 
yers and  Clients,  a  Family  and  a  Neighbourhood — then  it  is 
that  every  man  dashes  against  another,  and  one  relation  re- 
quires what  another  denies ;  and  when  one  speaks  another 
will  contradict  him ;  and  that  which  is  well  spoken  is  some- 
times innocently  mistaken  ;  and  that  upon  a  good  cause  pro- 
duces an  evil  effect ;  and  by  these  and  ten  thousand  other  con- 
current causes,  man  is  made  more  than  most  miserable. 

COMMENT. 

The  first  question  we  should  put  to  ourselves,  when  we 
have  read  a  passage  that  perplexes  us  in  a  work  of  authority, 
is  :  What  does  the  Writer  mean  by  all  this  ?  And  the  second 
question  should  be.  What  does  he  intend  by  all  this  ?  In  the 
passage  before  us,  Taylor's  meaning  is  not  quite  clear.  A  Sin 
is  an  Evil  which  has  its  ground  or  origin  in  the  Agent,  and 
not  in  the  compulsion  of  Circumstances.  Circumstances  are 
compulsory  from  the  absence  of  a  power  to  resist  or  control 
them  :  and  if  this  absence  likewise  be  the  efiect  of  circum- 
stance (t.  e.  if  it  have  been  neither  directly  nor  indirectly 
caused  by  the  Agent  himself)  the  Evil  derives  from  the  Cir- 
cumstances ;  and  therefore  (in  the  Apostle's  sense  of  the 
word.  Sin,  w^hen  he  speaks  of  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  Sin) 
such  evil  is  not  sin  ;  and  the  person  who  suffers  it,  or  w  ho  is 
the  compelled  instrument  of  its  infliction  on  others,  may  feel 
regret  but  cannot  feel  remorse.  So  likewise  of  the  word  ori- 
gin, original,  or  originant.  The  reader  cannot  too  early  be 
warned  that  it  is  not  applicable,  and,  without  abuse  of  lan- 
guage, can  never  be  applied,  to  a  mere  link  in  a  chain  of  ef- 
fects, where  each,  indeed,  stands  in  the  relation  of  a  cause  to 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  161 

those  that  follow,  but  is  at  the  same  time  the  effect  of  all  that 
precede.  For  in  these  cases  a  cause  amounts  to  little  more 
than  an  antecedent.  At  the  utmost  it  means  only  a  conductor 
of  the  causative  influence  :  and  the  old  axiom,  Causa  causae 
causa  causati,  applies,  with  a  never-ending  regress  to  each  se- 
veral link,  up  the  whole  chain  of  nature.  But  this  (as  I  have 
elsewhere  shown  at  large )  is  Nature :  and  no  Natural  thing 
or  act  can  be  called  originant,  or  be  truly  said  to  have  an  ori- 
^in[67]  in  any  other.  The  moment  we  assume  an  Origin  in 
Nature,  a  true  Beginning^  an  actual  First — that  moment  we 
rise  above  Nature,  and  are  compelled  to  assume  a  supernatural 
Power.     (Gen.  I.  v.  1.) 

It  will  be  an  equal  convenience  to  myself  and  to  my  Read- 
ers, to  let  it  be  agreed  between  us,  that  we  will  generalize 
the  word  Circumstance  so  as  to  understand  by  it,  as  often  as  it 
occurs  in  this  Comment,  all  and  every  thing  not  connected 
with  the  Will,  past  or  present,  of  a  Free  Agent.  Even  though 
it  were  the  blood  in  the  chambers  of  his  Heart,  or  his  ow^n  in- 
most Sensations,  we  will  regard  them  as  circumstantial^  ex- 
trinsic^ or  from  without. 

In  this  sense  of  the  word  Original,  and  in  the  sense  before 
given  of  Sin,  it  is  evident  that  the  phrase.  Original  Sin,  is 
a  Pleonasm,  the  epithet  not  adding  to  the  thought,  but  only 
enforcing  it.  For  if  it  be  Sin,  it  must  be  original:  and  a  State 
or  Act,  that  has  not  its  origin  in  the  will,  may  be  calamity,  de- 
formity, disease,  or  mischief;  but  a  Sin  it  cannot  be.  It  is  not 
enough  that  the  Act  appears  voluntary;  or  that  it  is  intention- 
al; or  that  it  has  the  most  hateful  passions  or  debasing  appetite 
for  its  proximate  cause  and  accompaniment.  All  these  may 
be  found  in  a  Mad-house,  where  neither  law  nor  humani- 
ty peimit  us  to  condemn  the  Actor  of  Sin.  The  Reason  of 
Law  declares  the  Maniac  not  a  Free- A  gent ;  and  the  Verdict 
follows  of  course — Not  guilty.  Now  Mania,  as  distinguished 
from  Idiocy,  Frenzy,  Delirium,  Hypochondria,  and  Derange- 
ment (the  last  term  used  specifically  to  express  a  suspension  or 
disordered  state  of  the  Understanding  or  Adaptive  Power)  is 
the  Occultation  or  Eclipse   of  Reason,  as   the    Power  of  ul- 

21         — -  - 


162 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


timate  ends.  The  Maniac,  it  is  well  known,  is  often  found 
clever  and  inventive  in  the  selection  and  adaptation  of  means 
to  his  ends ;  but  his  ends  are  madness.  He  has  lost  his  Rea- 
son. For  though  Reason,  in  finite  beings,  is  not  the  Will— - 
or  how  could  the  will  be  opposed  to  the  Reason? — yet  it  is 
the  condition^  the  sine  qua  non  of  a  /Vee-will. 

We  will  now  return  to  the  Extract  from  Jeremy  Taylor  on 
a  theme  of  deep  interest  in  itself,  and  trebly  important  from 
its  hearings.  For  without  just  and  distinct  views  respecting 
the  Article  of  Original  Sin,  it  is  impossible  to  understand  aright 
any  one  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Christianity.  Now  my 
first  complaint  is,  that  the  eloquent  Bishop,  while  he  admits 
the  fact  as  established  beyond  controversy  by  universal  expe- 
rience, yet  leaves  us  wholly  in  the  dark  as  to  the  main  point, 
supplies  us  with  no  answer  to  the  principal  question — why  he 
names  it  Original  Sin?  It  cannot  be  said,  We  know  what  the 
Bishop  meanSj  and  what  matters  the  name  ?  for  the  nature  of 
the  fact,  and  in  what  light  it  should  be  regarded  by  us,  depends 
on  the  nature  of  our  answer  to  the  question,  whether  Original 
vSin  is  or  is  not  the  right  and  proper  designation.  I  can  ima- 
gine the  same  quantum  of  Sufferings  and  yet  if  I  had  reason  to 
regard  them  as  symptoms  of  a  commencing  Change,  as  pains 
of  growth,  the  temporary  deformity  and  misproportions  of  im- 
maturity, or  (as  in  the  final  sloughing  of  the  Caterpillar)  as 
throes  and  struggles  of  the  waxing  or  evolving  Psyche,  I 
should  think  it  no  stoical  flight  to  doubt,  how  far  I  was 
authorised  to  declare  the  Circumstance  an  Evil  at  all.  Most 
assuredly  I  would  not  express  or  describe  the  fact  as  an  evil 
having  an  origin  in  the  Sufferers  themselves,  or  as  Sin. 

Let  us,  however,  waive  this  objection.  Let  it  be  supposed 
that  the  Bishop  uses  the  word  in  a  different  and  more  compre- 
hensive Sense,  and  that  by  Sin  he  understands  Evil  of  all  kind 
connected  with  or  resulting  from  Actions — though  I  do  not 
see  how  we  can  represent  the  properties  even  of  inanimate 
Bodies  (of  poisonous  substance,  for  instance)  except  as  Acts 
resulting  from  the  constitution  of  such  bodies  !  Or  if  this  sense, 
though  not  unknown  to  the   Mystic  Divines,  should  be  too 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL.    RELIGION.        '  163 

comprehensive  and  remote,  we  will  suppose  the  Bishop  to  com- 
prise under  the  term  Sin,  the  Evil  accompanying  or  conse- 
quent on  human  Actions  and  Pui*poses : — though  here  too,  1 
have  a  right  to  be  informed,  for  what  reason  and  on  what 
grounds  Sin  is  thus  limited  to  human  Agency  ?  And  truly,  1 
should  be  at  no  loss  to  assign  the  reason.  But  then  this  rea- 
son would  instantly  bring  me  back  to  my  first  definition  ;  and 
any  other  reason,  than  that  the  human  Agent  is  endowed  with 
Reason,  and  with  a  Will  which  can  place  itself  either  in  sub- 
jection or  in  opposition  to  his  Reason — in  other  words,  that 
Man  is  alone  of  all  known  Animals  a  responsible  Creatuie — 1 
neither  know  or  can  imagine. 

Thus,  then,  the  Sense  which  Taylor — and  with  him  the  An- 
tagonists generally  of  this  Article  as  propounded  by  the  first 
Reformers — attaches  to  the  words.  Original  Sin,  needs  only  be 
carried  on  into  its  next  consequence^  and  it  will  be  found  to 
imply  the  sense  which  I  have  given — namely,  that  Sin  is  Evil 
having  an  Origin.  But  inasmuch  as  it  is  evil^  in  God  it  can- 
not originate  :  and  yet  in  some  Spirit  (i.  e.  in  some  supernalu- 
rai  power)  it  must.  For  in  Nature  there  is  no  origin.  Sin 
therefore  is  spiritual  Evil :  but  the  spiritual  in  Man  is  the  Will. 
Now  when  we  do  not  refer  to  any  particular  Sins,  l)ut  to  that 
state  and  constitution  of  the  Will,  which  is  the  ground,  condi- 
tion and  common  Cause  of  all  Sins ;  and  when  we  would  fur- 
ther express  the  truth,  that  this  corrupt  Nature  of  the  Will 
must  in  some  sense  or  other  be  considered  as  its  own  act,  that 
the  corruption  must  have  been  self-originated  ; — in  this  case 
and  for  this  purpose  we  may,  with  no  less  propriety  than  force, 
entitle  this  dire  spiritual  evil  and  source  of  all  evil,  tliat  is  ab- 
solutely such.  Original  Sin.  (I  have  said,  "the  corrupt  Na- 
ture of  the  Will."  I  might  add,  that  the  admission  of  a  Na- 
ture into  a  spiritual  essence  by  its  own  act  is  a  corruption.) 

Such,  I  repeat,  would  be  the  inevitable  conclusion,  if  Tay- 
lor's Sense  of  the  term  were  carried  on  into  its  immediate 
consequences.  But  the  whole  of  his  most  eloquent  Treatise 
makes  it  certain  that  Tajlor  did  not  cany  it  on  :  and  conse- 
quently Original  Sin,  according  to  his  conception,  is  a  Calami- 


164 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


tv  which  being  common  to  all  men  must  be  supposed  to  result 
fiom  their  common  Nature  :  in  other  words,  the  universal  Ca- 
lamity of  Human  Nature  I 

Can  we  wonder,  then,  that  a  mind,  a  heart  like  Taylor's, 
should  reject,  that  he  should  strain  his  faculties  to  explain 
away,  the  belief  that  this  Calamity,  so  dire  in  itself,  should  ap- 
pear to  the  All-merciful  God  a  rightful  cause  and  motive  for 
inflicting  on  the  wretched  Sufferers  a  Calamity  infinitely  more 
tremendous  ?  nay,  that  it  should  be  incompatible  with  Divine 
Justice  not  to  punish  it  by  everlasting  torment  ?     Or  need  we 
be  surprised  if  he  found  nothing,  that  could  reconcile  his  mind 
to  such  a  belief,  in  the  circumstance  that  the  acts  now  conse- 
quent on  this  Calamity  and  either  directly  or  indirectly  effects 
of  the  same  were,  five  or  six  thousand  years  ago  in  the  instance 
of  a  certain  Individual  and  his  Accomplice,  anterior  to  the  Ca- 
lamity, and  the  Cause  or  Occasion  of  the  same  ?  that  what  in 
all  other  men  is  Disease^  in  these  two  persons  was  Guilt  9  that 
what  in  us  is  hereditary,  and  consequently  Nature,  in  them 
was  original^  and  consequently  Sin  ?     Lastly  might  it  not  be 
presumed,  that  so  enlightened,  and  at  the  same  time  so  affec- 
tionate, a  Divine,  would  even  fervently  disclaim  and  reject  the 
pretended  justifications  of  God,  grounded  on  flimsy  analogies 
drawn  from  the  imperfections  of  human  ordinances  and  human 
justice-courts — some  of  very  doubtful  character  even  as  hu- 
man Institutes,  and  all  of  them  just  only  as  far  as  they  are  ne- 
cessary, and  rendered  necessary  chiefly  by  the  weakness  and 
wickedness,  the  limited  powers  and  corrupt  passions,  of  man- 
kind ?     The  more  confidently  might  this  be  presumed  of  so 
acute  and  practised  a  Logician,  as  Jeremy  Taylor,  in  addition 
to  his  other  extra-ordinary  Gifts,  is  known  to  have  been,  when 
it  is  demonstrable  that  the  most  current  of  these  justifications 
rests  on  a  palpable  equivocation  :  viz.  the  gross  misuse  of  the 
word  Right[68].     An  instance  will  explain  my  meaning.     In 
as  far  as,  from  the  known  frequency  of  dishonest  or  mischie- 
vous persons,  it  may  have  been  found  necessary,  in  so  far  is  the 
Law  justifiable  in  giving  Landowners  the  Right  of  proceeding 
against  a  neighbour  or  fellow-citizen  for  even  a  slight  trespass 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL.    RELIGION.  165 

on  that  which  the  Law  has  made  their  Property  : — nay,  of  pro- 
ceeding in  sundry  instances  criminally  and  event[capitally. 
(Where  at  least  from  the  known  poverty  of  the  Trespasser 
it  is  foreknown  that  the  consequences  will  be  penal.  Thus  : 
three  poor  men  were  fined  Twenty  Pounds  each,  the  one  for 
knocking  down  a  Hare,  the  other  for  picking  it  up,  and  the  third 
for  carrying  it  off:  and  not  possessing  as  many  Pence,  were 
sent  to  Jail.)  But  surely,  either  there  is  no  religion  in  the 
world,  and  nothing  obligatory  in  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel, 
or  there  are  occasions  in  which  it  would  be  very  ivrong  in  the 
Proprietor  to  exercise  the  Eighty  which  yet  it  may  be  highly 
expedient  that  he  should  possess.  On  this  ground  it  is,  that , 
Religion  is  the  sustaining  Opposite  of  Law\ 

That  Jeremy  Taylor,  therefore,  should  have  striven  fervent- 
ly against  the  Article  so  interpreted  and  so  vindicated,  is  (for 
me,  at  least,)  a  subject  neither  of  Surprise  nor  of  Complaint. 
It  is  the  doctrine  which  he  substitutes^  it  is  the  weakness  and 
inconsistency  betrayed  in  the  defence  of  this  substitute,  it  is 
the  unfairness  with  which  he  blackens  the  established  Article — 
for  to  give  it,  as  it  had  been  caricatured  by  a  few  Ultra -Cal- 
vinists  during  the  fever  of  the  (so  called)  quinquarticular 
Controversy,  was  in  effect  to  blacken  it — and  then  imposes 
another  scheme,  to  which  the  same  objections  apply  with  even 
increased  force,  a  scheme  which  seems  to  differ  from  the  for- 
mer only  by  adding  fraud  and  mockery  to  injustice  :  these  are 
the  things  that  excite  my  wonder,  it  is  of  these  that  I  com- 
plain !  For  what  does  the  Bishop's  scheme  amount  to  ?  God, 
he  tells  us,  required  of  Adam  a  perfect  obedience,  and  made 
it  possible  by  endowing  him  "  with  perfect  rectitudes  and  su- 
pernatural heights  of  grace"  proportionate  to  the  obedience 
which  he  required.  As  a  consequence  of  his  disobedience, 
Adam  lost  this  rectitude,  this  perfect  sanity  and  proportionate- 
ness  of  his  intellectual,  moral  and  corporeal  state,  powers  and 
impulses ;  and  as  the  penalty  of  his  crime,  he  was  deprived 
of  all  super-natural  aids  and  graces.  The  Death,  w^ith  what- 
ever is  comprised  in  the  scriptural  sense  of  the  word.  Death, 
began  from  that  moment  to  work  in  him,  and  this  consequence 


IGG  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

he  conveyed  to  liis  offspring,  and  through  them  to  all  his  pos- 
terity, *.  e.  to  all  mankind.  They  were  born  diseased  in  mind, 
hody  and  will.  For  what  less  than  disease  can  we  call  a  ne- 
cessity of  error  and  a  predisposition  to  sin  and  sickness  ?  Tay- 
lor, indeed,  asserts^  that  though  perfect  Obedience  became  in- 
comparably more  difficult,  it  was  not,  however,  absolutely  im- 
possible. Yet  he  himself  admits  that  the  contrary  was  uni- 
vcrsctl ;  that  of  the  countless  millions  of  Adam's  Posterity, 
not  a  single  Individual  ever  realized,  or  approached  to  the  re- 
alization of,  this  possibility ;  and  (if  my  memory  does  not  de- 
ceive me)  Taylor  himself  has  elsewhere  exposed — and  if  he 
have  not,  yet  Common  Sense  will  do  it  for  him — the  sophistry  in 
asserting  of  a  whole  what  may  be  true,  but  is  true  only,  of  each 
of  its  component  parts.  Any  one  may  snap  a  horsehair:  there- 
fore, any  one  may  perform  the  same  feat  with  the  horse's  tail. 
On  a  level  floor  (on  the  hardened  sand,  for  instance,  of  a  sea- 
beach)  I  chalk  two  parallel  strait  lines,  with  a  width  of  eight 
inches.  It  is  possible  for  a  man,  with  a  bandage  over  his  eyes, 
to  keep  within  the  path  for  two  or  three  paces  :  therefore,  it  is 
possible  for  him  to  walk  blindfold  for  two  or  three  leagues 
without  a  single  deviation  !  And  this  possibility  would  suffice 
to  acquit  me  of  injustice,  though  I  had  placed  man-traps  with- 
in an  inch  of  one  line,  and  knew  that  there  were  pit-falls  and 
deep  wells  beside  the  other  ! 

This  assertion,  therefore,  without  adverting  to  its  discord- 
ance with,  if  not  direct  contradiction  to,  the  tenth  and  thir- 
teenth Articles  of  our  Church,  I  shall  not,  I  trust,  be  thought 
to  rate  below  its  true  value,  if  1  treat  it  as  an  infinitesimal 
possibility  that  may  be  safely  dropped  in  the  calculation  :  and 
so  proceed  with  the  argument.  The  consequence  then  of 
Adam's  Crime  was  by  a  natural  necessity,  inherited  by  Persons 
who  could  not  (the  Bishop  affirms)  in  any  sense  have  been 
accomplices  in  the  crime  or  partakers  in  the  guilt :  and  yet 
consistently  with  the  divine  Holiness,  it  was  not  possible  that 
the  same  perfect  Obedience  should  not  be  required  of  them. 
Now  what  would  the  Idea  of  Equity,  what  would  the  Law 
ijiscribed  by  the  Creator  in  the  heart  of  Man,  seem  to  dictate 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  167 

in  this  case  ?  Surely  that  the  supplementary  Aids,  the  super- 
natural Graces  correspondent  to  a  Law  above  Nature,  should 
be  increased  in  proportion  to  the  diminished  strength  of  the 
Agents,  and  the  increased  resistance  to  be  overcome  by  them  ! 
But  no  !  not  only  the  consequence  of  Adam's  act,  but  the  pe- 
nalty due  to  his  crime,  was  perpetuated.  His  descendants 
were  despoiled  or  left  destitute  of  these  Aids  and  Graces, 
w^hile  the  obligation  to  perfect  obedience  was  continued ;  an 
obligation  too,  the  nonfulfilment  of  which  brought  with  it 
Death  and  the  unutterable  Woe  that  cleaves  to  an  immortal 
Soul  for  ever  alienated  from  its  Creator  I 

Observe,  Reader  !  all  these  results  of  Adam's  Fall  enter 
into  Bishop  Taylor's  scheme  of  Original  Sin  equally  as  into 
that  of  the  first  Reformers.  In  this  respect  the  Bishop's  doc- 
trine is  the  same  with  that  laid  down  in  the  Articles  and  Hom- 
ilies of  the  Established  Church.  The  only  difference  that  has 
hitherto  appeared,  consists  in  the  aforesaid  mathematical  pos- 
sibility of  fulfilling  the  whole  Law,  which  in  the  Bishop's 
scheme  is  afliirmed  to  remain  still  in  human  Nature,  or  (as  it  is 
elsewhere  expressed)  in  the  Nature  of  the  human  Will [69]. 
But  though  it  were  possible  to  grant  this  existence  of  a  power 
in  all  men,  which  in  no  one  man  was  ever  exemplified,  and 
where  the  non-actualization  of  such  power  is,  a  priori,  so  cer- 
tain, that  the  belief  or  imagination  of  the  contrary  in  any  In- 
dividual is  expressly  given  us  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  test, 
whereby  it  may  be  known  that  the  truth  is  not  in  him !  as  an 
infallible  sign  of  imposture  or  self-delusion  !  Though  it  were 
possible  to  grant  this,  which  consistently  with  Scripture  and 
the  principles  of  reasoning  which  we  apply  in  all  other  cases, 
it  is  not  possible  to  grant  ;  and  though  it  were  possible  like- 
wise to  overlook  the  glaring  sophistry  of  concluding,  in  rela- 
tion to  a  series  of  indeterminate  length,  that  whoever  can  do 
any  one,  can  therefore  do  all ;  a  conclusion,  the  futility  of 
which  must  force  itself  on  the  common-sense  of  every  man 
who  understands  the  proposition ; — still  the  question  will  arise — 
Why,  and  on  what  principle  of  equity,  were  the  unofl'ending 
sentenced  to  be  born  with  so  fearful  a  disproportion  of  their 


168  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

powers  to  their  duties  ?  Why  were  they  subjected  to  a 
Law,  the  fulfibnent  of  which  was  all  but  impossible,  yet  the 
penalty  on  the  failure  tremendous  ?  Admit  that  for  those 
who  had  never  enjoyed  a  happier  lot,  it  was  no  punish- 
ment to  be  made  inhabit  a  ground  which  the  Creator  had 
cursed,  and  to  have  been  born  with  a  body  prone  to  sickness, 
and  a  soul  surrounded  with  temptation  and  having  the  worst 
temptation  within  itself  in  its  own  temptibility !  To  have  the 
duties  of  a  Spirit  with  the  wants  and  appetites  of  an  Animal ! 
Yet  on  such  imperfect  Creatures,  with  means  so  scanty  and 
impediments  so  numerous,  to  impose  the  same  task-work  that 
had  been  required  of  a  Creature  with  a  pure  and  entire  na- 
ture and  provided  with  super-natural  Aids — if  this  be  not  to 
inflict  a  penalty ! — Yet  to  be  placed  under  a  Law,  the  difficul- 
ty of  obeying  and  the  consequences  of  not  obeying  which  are 
both  infinite,  and  to  have  momently  to  struggle  with  this  diffi- 
culty, and  to  live  in  momently  hazard  of  these  consequences — 
if  this  be  no  punishment! — words  have  no  correspondence 
with  thoughts,  and  thoughts  are  but  shadows  of  each  other, 
shadows  that  own  no  substance  for  their  anti-type  ! 

Of  such  an  outrage  on  common-sense  Taylor  was  incapable. 
He  himself  calls  it  a  penalty ;  he  admits  that  in  effect  it  is  a 
punishment :  nor  does  he  seek  to  suppress  the  question  that 
so  naturally  arises  out  of  this  admission — On  what  principle  of 
Equity  were  the  innocent  offspring  of  Adam  punished  at  all? 
He  meets  it,  and  puts-in  an  answer.  He  states  the  problem, 
and  gives  his  solution — namely,  that  "  God  on  Adam's  Account 
was  so  exasperated  with  Mankind^  that  being  angry  he  would 
still  continue  the  punishment!"  The  case  (says  the  Bishop) 
is  this  :  "Jonathan  and  Michal  were  Saul's  Children.  It  came 
to  pass,  that  seven  of  Saul's  Issue  were  to  be  hanged  :  all 
equally  innocent,  equally  culpable."  [Before  I  quote  fur- 
ther,  I  feel  myself  called  on  to  remind  the  Reader,  that  these 
two  last  words  were  added  by  Jeremy  Taylor  without  the  least 
ground  of  Scripture^  according  lo  ivhich  (2  Samuel,  Ixxi.)  no 
crime  was  laid  to  their  charge,  no  blame  imputed  to  them. 
Without  any  pretence  of  cidpahlc  conduct  on  their  jmrt,  they 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIfilTUAL.    RELIGION.  169 

were  arraigned  as  Children  of  Saul,  and  sacrificed  to  a  j)oint 
of  state-expedience.  In  recommencing  the  quotation,  there- 
fore, the  Reader  ought  to  let  the  sentence  conclude  with  the 
words — ]  "  all  equally  innocent.  David  took  the  fiv^e  Sons 
of  Michal,  for  she  had  left  him  unhandsomely.  Jonathan  was 
his  friend  :  and  therefore  he  spared  his  Son,  Mephibosheth. 
Now  here  it  was  indifferent  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  persons  (bear 
in  mind,  Reader !  that  no  guilt  was  attached  to  either  of 
them !)  whether  David  should  take  the  Sons  of  Michal  or  Jo- 
nathan's ;  but  it  is  likely  that  as  upon  the  kindness  that  David 
had  to  Jonathan  he  spared  his  son  ;  so  upon  the  just  provoca- 
tion of  Michal,  he  made  that  evil  fall  upon  them,  which,  it 
may  be,  they  should  not  have  suffered  if  their  mother  had 
been  kind.  Adam  was  to  God  as  Michal  to  David.''  (Tay- 
lor's Polem.  Tracts,  p.  711.) 

This  Answer,  this  Solution,  proceeding  too  from  a  Divine  so 
pre-eminently  gifted,  and  occurring  ( with  other  passages  not 
less  startling)  in  a  vehement  refutation  of  the  received  doctrine 
on  the  express  ground  of  its  opposition  to  the  clearest  concep- 
tions and  best  feelings  of  mankind — this  it  is,  that  surprises 
me  !  It  is  of  this  that  I  complain  !  The  Almighty  Father  ex- 
asperated with  those,  whom  the  Bishop  has  himself  in  the 
same  treatise  described  as  "innocent  and  most  unfortunate" — 
the  two  things  best  fitted  to  concihate  love  and  pity  !  Or 
though  they  did  not  remain  innocent,  yet  those  whose  aban- 
donment to  ameie  nature,  while  they  were  left  amenable  to  a 
law  above  nature,  he  affirms  to  be  the  irresistible  cause,  that 
they,  one  and  all,  did  sin  !  And  this  decree  illustrated  and 
justified  by  its  analogy  to  one  of  the  worst  actions  of  an  im- 
perfect Mortal !  Let  such  of  my  Readers  as  possess  the  Vol- 
ume of  Polemical  Discourses,  or  the  opportunity  of  consult- 
ing it,  give  a  thoughtful  perusal  to  the  pages  from  869  to  893 
(Third  edition  enlarged,  1674 J.  I  dare  anticipate  their  con- 
currence with  the  judgment  w^hich  I  here  transcribe  from  the 
blank  space  at  the  end  of  the  Deus  Justificatus  in  my  own 
Copy  ;  and  which,  though  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  it 
was   written,  I  have  never  seen  reason  to   recant  or  modify. 

22 


170  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

"  This  most  eloquent  Treatise  may  be  compared  to  a  Statue  of 
Janus,  with  the  one  face,  which  we  must  suppose  fronting  the 
Calvinistic  Tenet,  entire  and  fresh,  as  from  the  Master's  hand  ; 
beaming  with  life  and  force,  a  witty  scorn  on  the  Lip,  and  a 
Brow  at  once  bright  and  weighty  with  satisfying  reason  !  the 
other,  looking  toward  the  '  somef/iin^  to  he  put  in  its  place ^"^ 
maimed,  featureless,  and  weatherbitten  into  an  almost  vision- 
ary confusion  and  indistinctness." 

With  these  expositions  I  hasten  to  contrast  the  scr'iptural 
article  respecting  Original  Sin,  or  the  Corrupt  and  sinful  Na- 
ture of  the  Human  Will,  and  the  belief  which  alone  is  requi- 
red of  us,  as  Christians.  And  here  the  first  thing  to  be  con- 
sidered, and  which  will  at  once  remove  a  world  of  error,  is  : 
that  this  is  no  Tenet  first  introduced  or  imposed  by  Christi- 
anity ;  and  which,  should  a  man  see  reason  to  disclaim  the 
authority  of  the  Gospel,  would  no  longer  have  any  claim  on 
his  attention.  It  is  no  perplexity  that  a  man  may  get  rid  of 
by  ceasing  to  be  a  Christian,  and  which  has  no  existence  for 
a  philosophic  Deist.  It  is  a  Fact,  aflirmed,  indeed,  in  the 
Christian  Scriptures  alone  with  the  force  and  frequency  pro- 
portioned to  its  consummate  importance  ;  but  a  fact  acknowl- 
edged in  every  Religion  that  retains  the  least  glimmering  of 
the  patriarchal  faith  in  a  God  infinite  yet  personal !  A  fact 
assumed  or  implied  as  the  basis  of  every  Religion,  of  which 
any  relics  remain  of  earlier  date  than  the  last  and  total  Apos- 
tasy of  the  Pagan  World,  when  the  faith  in  the  great  I  am, 
the  Creator^  was  extinguished  in  the  sensual  polytheism,  which 
is  inevitably  the  final  result  of  Pantheism  or  the  Worship  of 
Nature ;  and  the  only  form  under  which  the  Pantheistic 
Scheme — that,  according  to  which  the  World  is  God,  and  the 
material  universe  itself  the  one  only  absolute  Being — can  ex- 
ist for  a  People,  or  become  the  Popular  Creed.  Thus  in  the 
most  ancient  Books  of  the  Brahmins,  the  deep  sense  of  this 
Fact,  and  the  doctrines  grounded  on  obscure  traditions  of  the 
promised  Remedy,  are  seen  struggling,  and  now  gleaming, 
now  flashing,  through  the  Mist  of  Pantheism,  and  producing 
the  incongruities  and  gross  contradictions  of  the  Brahmin  My- 


APHORISMS  ON    SPIRITUxVL    RELIGION.  171 

tliology  ;  while  in  the  rival  Sect — in  that  most  strange  Phse- 
nomenon,  the  religious  Atheism  of  the  Buddheists  !  with  whom 
God  is  only  universal  Matter  considered  abstractedly  from  all 
particular  forms — the  fact  is  placed  among  the  delusions  natu- 
ral to  man,  which,  together  with  other  superstitions  grounded 
on  a  supposed  essential  difference  between  Right  and  Wrong, 
the  Sage  is  to  decompose  and  precipitate  from  the  menstruum 
of  his  more  refined  apprehensions !  Thus  in  denying  the  fact, 
they  virtually  acknowledge  it. 

From  the  remote  East  turn  to  the  mythology  of  Minor  Asia, 
to  the  Descendants  of  Javan  who  dwelt  in  the  tents  of  Shem^ 
and  possessed  the  Isles.  Here  again,  and  in  the  usual  form  of 
an  historic  Solution,  we  find  the  same  Fact^  and  as  character- 
istic of  the  Human  Race^  stated  in  that  earliest  and  most  ven- 
erable Mythus  (or  symbolic  Parable)  of  Prometheus — that 
truly  wonderful  Fable,  in  which  the  characters  of  the  rebell- 
ious Spirit  and  of  the  Divine  Friend  of  Mankind  (Qsog 
(piXavi^pw^o?)  are  united  in  the  same  Person:  and  thus  in  the 
most  striking  manner  noting  the  forced  amalgamation  of  the 
Patriarchal  Tradition  with  the  incongruous  Scheme  of  Pan- 
theism. This  and  the  connected  tale  of  lo,  which  is  but  the 
sequel  of  the  Prometheus,  stand  alone  in  the  Greek  Mythol- 
ogy, in  which  elsewhere  both  Gods  and  Men  are  mere  Pow- 
ers and  Products  of  Nature.  And  most  noticeable  it  is,  that 
soon  after  the  promulgation  and  spread  of  the  Gospel  had  awa- 
kened the  moral  sense,  and  had  opened  the  eyes  even  of  its 
wiser  Enemies  to  the  necessity  of  providing  some  solution  of 
this  great  problem  of  the  MoraF  World,  the  beautiful  parable 
of  Cupid  and  Psyche  was  brought  forward  as  a  rival  Fall  of 
Man  :  and  the  fact  of  a  moral  corruption  connatural  with  the 
human  race  was  again  recognized.  In  the  assertion  of  Orig- 
inal Sin  the  Greek  Mythology  rose  and  set. 

But  not  only  was  the  fact  acknowledged  of  a  Law  in  the 
Nature  of  Man  resisting  the  Law  of  God.  (And  whatever  is 
placed  in  active  and  direct  Oppugnancy  to  the  Good  is,  ipso 
facto,  positive  Evil. )  It  was  likewise  an  acknowledged  Mys- 
tery, and   one  which  by  the  nature  of  the  Subject  must  ever 


172  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

remain  such — a  problem,  of  which  any  other  solution,  than 
the  statement  of  the  Fact  itself,  was  demonstrably  impossible. 
That  it  is  so,  the  least  reflection  will  suffice  to  convince  every 
man,  who  has  previously  satisfied  himself  that  he  is  a  responsi- 
ble Being.  It  follows  necessarily  from  the  postulate  of  a  res- 
ponsible Will.  Refuse  to  grant  this,  and  I  have  not  a  word  to  say. 
Concede  this,  and  you  concede  all.  For  this  is  the  essential 
attribute  of  a  Will,  and  contained  in  the  very  idea,  that  what- 
ever determines  the  Will  acquires  this  power  from  a  previous 
determination  of  the  Will  itself.  The  Will  is  ultimately  self- 
determined,  or  it  is  no  longer  a  Will  under  the  Law  of  per- 
fect Freedom,  but  a  Nature  under  the  mechanism  of  Cause 
and  Effect.  And  if  by  an  act,  to  which  it  had  determined 
itself,  it  has  subjected  itself  to  the  determination  of  Nature 
(in  the  language  of  St.  Paul,  to  the  Law  of  the  Flesh),  it  re- 
ceives a  nature  into  itself,  and  so  far  it  becomes  a  Nature  : 
and  this  is  a  corruption  of  the  Will  and  a  corrupt  Nature.  It 
is  also  a  Fall  of  Man,  inasmuch  as  his  Will  is  the  condition  of 
his  Personality ;  the  ground  and  condition  of  the  attribute 
which  constitutes  him  Man.  And  the  ground-work  of  Pei'- 
sonal  Being  is  a  capacity  of  acknowledging  the  Moral  Law 
(the  Law  of  the  Spirit,  the  Law  of  Freedom,  the  Divine 
Will)  as  that  which  should,  of  itself,  suffice  to  determine  the 
Will  to  a  free  obedience  of  the  Law,  the  Law  working  there- 
on by  its  own  exceeding  lawfulness.  This,  and  this  alone,  is 
positive  Good  :  good  in  itself,  and  independent  of  all  relations. 
Whatever  resists  and,  as  a  positive  force,  opposes  this  in  the 
Will  is  therefore  evil.  But  an  Evil  in  the  Will  is  an  evil 
Will ;  and  as  all  moral  Evil  (i.  e.  all  evil  that  is  evil  without 
reference  to  its  contingent  physical  consequences )  is  of  the 
Will,  this  evil  Will  must  have  its  source  in  the  Will.  And 
thus  we  might  go  back  from  act  to  act,  from  evil  to  evil,  ad 
infinitum  without  advancing  a  step. 

We  call  an  Individual  a  bad  Man,  not  because  an  action  is 
contrary  to  the  Law,  but  because  it  has  led  us  to  conclude 
from  it  some  Principle  opposed  to  the  Law,  some  private  Max- 
im or   By-law  in  the   Will  contrnrv  to  the   universal    Law  o( 


APHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGIOX.  173 

right  Reason  in  the  Conscience,  as  the  Ground  of  the  action. 
But  this  evil  Principle  again  must  be  grounded  in  some  other 
Principle  which  has  been  made  determinant  of  the  Will  bj 
the  Will's  own  self-determination.  For  if  not,  it  must  have 
its  ground  in  some  necessity  of  Nature,  in  some  instinct  or 
propensity  imposed  not  acquired,  another's  work,  notour  own. 
Consequently,  neither  Act  nor  Principle  could  be  imputed  ; 
and  relatively  to  the  Agent,  not  original^  not  Sin. 

Now  let  the  grounds,  on  which  the  fact  of  an  Evil  inherent 
in  the  Will  is  affirraable  in  the  instance  of  any  one  Man,  be 
supposed  equally  applicable  in  every  instance,  and  concerning 
all  men :  so  that  the  fact  is  asserted  of  the  Individual,  not  be- 
cause he  has  committed  this  or  that  crime,  or  because  he 
has  shown  himself  to  be  tliis  or  that  Man,  but  simply  because 
he  is  a  Man.  Let  the  evil  be  supposed  such  as  to  imply  the 
impossibility  of  an  Individual's  referring  to  any  particular  time 
at  which  it  might  be  conceived  to  have  commenced,  or  to  any 
period  of  his  existence  at  w^hich  it  was  not  existing.  Let  it 
be  supposed,  in  short,  that  the  subject  stands  in  no  relation 
whatever  to  time,  can  neither  be  called  in  time  or  out  of  time  ; 
but  that  all  relations  of  Time  are  as  alien  and  heterogeneous 
in  this  question,  as  the  relations  and  attributes  of  Space  (north 
or  south,  round  or  square,  thick  or  thin )  are  to  our  Affections 
and  Moral  Feelings.  Let  the  reader  suppose  this,  and  he  will 
have  before  him  the  precise  import  of  the  scriptural  doctrine 
of  Original  Sin  :  or  rather  of  the  Fact  acknowledged  in  all 
Ages,  and  recognized,  but  not  originating,  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures. 

In  addition  to  this  Memento  it  will  be  well  to  remind  the 
Inquirer,  that  the  stedfast  conviction  of  the  existence,  per 
sonality,  and  moral  attributes  of  God  is  pre-supposed  in  the 
acceptance  of  the  Gospel,  or  required  as  its  indispensable  pre- 
liminary. It  is  taken  for  granted  as  a  point  which  the  Hearer 
had  already  decided  for  himself,  a  point  finally  settled  and  put 
at  rest :  not  by  the  removal  of  all  difficulties,  or  by  any  such 
increase  of  Insight  as  enabled  him  to  meet  every  objection  of 
the  Epicurean  or  the  Sceptic  with  a  full  and  precise  answer ; 


174  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

but  because  he  had  convinced  himself  that  it  was  folly  as  well 
as  presumption  in  so  imperfect  a  Creature  to  expect  it ;  and 
because  these  difficulties  and  doubts  disappeared  at  the  beam, 
when  tried  against  the  weight  and  convictive  power  of  the 
reasons  in  the  other  scale.  It  is,  therefore,  most  unfair  to  at- 
tack Christianity,  or  any  article  which  the  Church  has  declar- 
ed a  Christian  Doctrine,  by  arguments,  which,  if  valid,  are 
valid  against  all  religion.  Is  there  a  Disputant  who  scorns  a 
mere  Postulate,  as  the  basis  of  any  argument  in  support  of  the 
Faith  ;  who  is  too  high-minded  to  beg  his  ground,  and  will  take 
it  by  a  strong  hand  ?  Let  him  fight  it  out  with  the  Atheists, 
or  the  Manichseans  ;  but  not  stoop  to  pick  up  their  arrows,  and 

then  run  away  to  discharge  them  at  Christianity  or  the 
Church  ! 

The  only  true  way  is  to  state  the  doctrine,  believed  equally 
by  Saul  of  Tarsus,  "yet  breathing  out  threatenings and  slaugh- 
ter against"  the  Church  of  Christ,  as  by  Paul  the  Apostle 
"fully  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Christ."  A  moral  Evil  is  an 
Evil  that  has  its  origin  in  a  Will.  An  Evil  common  to  all 
must  have  a  ground  common  to  all.  But  the  actual  existence 
of  moral  evil  we  are  bound  in  conscience  to  admit ;  and  that 
there  is  an  evil  common  to  all  is  a  Fact ;  and  this  Evil  must 
therefore  have  a  common  ground.  Now  this  evil  ground  can- 
not originate  in  the  Divine  Will :  it  must  therefore  be  refer- 
red to  the  Will  of  Man.  And  this  evil  Ground  we  call  Orig- 
inal Sin.  It  is  a  Mystery,  that  is,  a  Fact,  which  we  see,  but 
cannot  explain ;  and  the  doctrine  a  truth  which  we  apprehend 
but  can  neither  comprehend  nor  communicate.  And  such  by 
the  quality  of  the  Subject  (viz.  a  responsible  Will)  it  must  be, 
if  it  be  truth  at  all. 

A  sick  man,  whose  complaint  was  obscure  as  his  sufferings 
were  severe  and  notorious,  was  thus  addressed  by  a  humane 
Stranger  :  My  poor  Friend  !  I  find  you  dangerously  ill,  and 
on  this  account  only,  and  having  certain  information  of  your 
being  so,  and  that  you  have  not  wherewithal  to  pay  for  a  phy- 
sician, I  have  come  to  you.  Respecting  your  disease,  indeed, 
I  can  tell  you  nothing,  that  you  are  capable  of  understanding. 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  175 

more  than  you  know  already,  or  can  only  be  taught  by  reflec- 
tion on  your  own  experience.  But  I  have  rendered  the  Dis- 
ease no  longer  irremediable.  I  have  brought  the  remedy  with 
me  :  and  I  now  offer  you  the  means  of  immediate  relief,  with 
the  assurance  of  gradual  convalescence,  and  a  final  perfect 
Cure  ;  nothing  more  being  required  on  your  part,  but  your 
best  endeavors  to  follow  the  prescriptions  I  shall  leave  with 
you.  It  is,  indeed,  too  probable,  from  the  nature  of  your  dis- 
ease, that  you  will  occasionally  neglect  or  transgress  them. 
But  even  this  has  been  calculated  on  in  the  plan  of  your  cure, 
and  the  remedies  provided,  if  only  you  are  sincere  and  in 
right  earnest  with  yourself,  and  have  your  heart  in  the  work. 
Ask  me  not,  how  such  a  disease  can  be  conceived  possible  ! 
Enough  for  the  present  that  you  know  it  to  be  real:  and  I 
come  to  cure  the  disease^  not  to  explain  it. 

Now,  what  if  the  Patient  or  some  of  his  Neighbors  should 
charge  this  good  Samaritan  with  having  given  rise  to  the  mis- 
chievous notion  of  an  inexplicable  Disease,  involving  the  hon- 
our of  the  King  of  the  Country  ?  should  inveigh  against  him 
as  the  Author  and  first  Introducer  of  the  Notion,  though  of 
the  numerous  medical  works  composed  ages  before  his  arrival, 
and  by  Physicians  of  the  most  venerable  Authority,  it  was 
scarcely  possible  to  open  a  single  volume  without  finding  some 
description  of  the  Disease,  or  some  lamentation  of  its  malig- 
nant and  epidemic  character  !  And  lastly,  what  if  certain 
pretended  Friends  of  this  good  Samaritan,  in  their  zeal  to  vin- 
dicate him  against  this  absurd  charge,  should  assert  that  he  was 
a  perfect  Stranger  to  this  Disease,  and  boldly  deny  that  he 
had  ever  said  or  done  any  thing  connected  with  it,  or  that  im- 
plied its  existence  ? 

In  this  Apologue  or  imaginary  Case,  Reader  !  you  have  the 
true  bearings  of  Christianity  on  the  fact  and  Doctrine  of  Ori- 
ginal Sin.  The  doctrine  (that  is,  the  confession  of  a  known 
fact)  Christianity  has  only  in  common  with  every  Religion, 
and  with  every  Philosophy,  in  which  the  reality  of  a  respon- 
sible Will  and  the  essential  difference  between  Good  and  Evil 
w^ere  recognized.     Peculiar  to  the  Christian  Religion  are  the 


176  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Remedy  and  (for  all  purposes  but  those  of  a  merely  specula- 
tive Curiosity)  the  Solution  !  By  the  annunciation  of  the  Re- 
medy it  aftbrds  all  the  solution  that  our  moral  interests  re- 
quire ;  and  even  in  that  which  remains,  and  must  remain,  un- 
fathomable the  Christian  finds  a  new  motive  to  walk  humbly 
with  the  Lord  his  God  ! 

Should  a   professed  Believer  ask  you  whether  that,  which 
is  the  ground  of  responsible    action  in   your  will,  could  in  any 
way  be    responsibly  present   in  the  Will  of  Adam  ?     Answer 
him  in  these  words  :   Fbw,  Sir  !  can  no  more  demonstrate  the 
Negative,  than  I  can  conceive  the  Affirmative.     The  Corrup- 
tion of  my  will  may  very  warrantably  be  spoken  of  as  a  Con- 
sequence of  Adam's   Existence ;  as  a   consequence,  a   link  in 
the  historic  Chain  of  Instances,  whereof  Adam  is  the  first.    But 
that  it  is  on  account  of  Adam ;  or  that  this  evil  principle  was, 
a  priori,  inserted  or  infused  into  my  Will  by  the  Will  of  ano- 
ther— ^ivhich  is   indeed  a  contradiction   in  terms,  my  Will   in 
such  case  being  no    IVill — this   is  nowhere    asserted  in  Scrip- 
ture explicitly  or  by  implication.     It  belongs   to  the  very  es- 
sence of  the   doctrine,   that   in  respect   of  Original  Sin  every 
man  is  the  adequate  representative  of  all   men.     What  won- 
der, then,  that  where  no  inward  ground  of  preference  existed, 
the  choice  should  be  determined  by  outward  relations,  and  that 
the  first  in  time  should  be  taken  as  the  Diagram  ?     Even  in 
Genesis  the  word,  Adam,  is  distinguished  from  a  Proper  Name 
by  an  Article    before  it.     It  is  tke  Adam,  so  as  to  express  the 
genus^  not  the  Individual — or  rather,  perhaps,  I  should  say,  as 
well  as  the  Individual.     But  that  the  word  with  its  equivalent 
the  old  man,  is  used  symbolically  and  universally  by  St.  Paul, 
( 1  Cor.  XV.  22.  45.     Eph.  iv.  22.     Col.  iii.  9.     Rom.  vi.  6. )  is 
too  evident  to  need  any  proof. 

I  conclude  with  this  remark.  The  Doctrine  of  Original 
Sin  concerns  all  men.  But  it  concerns  Christians  in  partic- 
ular no  otheiwise  than  by  its  connexion  with  the  doctrine  of 
Redemption ;  and  with  the  Divinity  and  Divine  Humanity  of 
the  Redeemer  as  a  corollary  or  necessary  inference  from  both 
mysteries.     Beware  of  x\rguments  against  Christianity, 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  177 

THAT    CANNOT     STOP    THERE,  AND    CONSEQUENTLY    OUGHT    NOT 

TO  HAVE  COMMENCED  THERE.  Something  I  might  have  added 
to  the  clearness  of  the  preceding  views,  if  the  limits  of  the 
work  had  permited  me  to  clear  away  the  several  delusive  and 
fanciful  assertions  respecting  the  state [70]  of  our  First  Pa- 
rents, their  wisdom,  science,  and  angelic  Faculties,  assertions 
without  the  slightest  ground  in  Scripture !  Or  if  consistently 
with  the  wants  and  preparatory  studies  of  those,  for  whose  use 
the  volume  was  especially  intended,  I  could  have  entered  into 
the  momentous  subject  of  a  Spiritual  Fall  or  Apostasy  ante- 
cedent to  the  formation  of  Man — a  belief,  the  scriptural 
grounds  of  which  are  few  and  of  diverse  interpretation,  but 
which  has  been  almost  universal  in  the  Christian  Church. 
Enough,  however,  has  been  given,  I  trust,  for  the  Reader  to 
see  and  (as  far  as  the  subject  is  capable  of  being  understood) 
to  understand  this  long  controverted  Article  in  the  sense,  in 
which  alone  it  is  binding  on  his  faith.  Supposing  him,  there- 
fore, to  know  the  meaning  of  original  sin,  and  to  have  deci- 
ded for  himself  on  the  fact  of  its  actual  existence,  as  the  an- 
tecedent ground  and  occasion  of  Christianity,  we  may  now 
proceed  to  Christianity  itself,  as  the  Edifice  raised  on  this 
ground,  i.  e,  to  the  great  Constituent  Article  of  the  Faith  in 
Christ,  as  the  Remedy  of  the  Disease — the  Doctrine  of  Re- 
demption. 

Butbefore  we  pioceed  to  this  momentous  doctrine,  let  me 
briefly  remind  the  young  and  friendly  Pupil,  to  whom  I  would 
still  be  supposed  to  address  myself,  that  in  the  Aphorism  to 
follow,  the  word  Science  is  used  in  its  strict  and  narrowest 
sense.  By  a  Science  I  here  mean  any  Chain  of  Truths  that 
are  either  absolutely  certain,  or  necessarily  true  for  the  human 
mind  from  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  mind  itself.  In 
neither  case  is  our  conviction  derived  ;  or  capable  of  receiv- 
ing any  addition,  from  outward  Experience,  or  empirical  da- 
ta— i.  e.  matter-of-fact  given  to  us  through  the  medium  of  our 
Senses — though  these  Data  may  have  been  the  occasion,  or 
may  even  be  an  indispensable  condition,  of  "bur  reflecting 
on  the  former  and  thereby  becoming  conscious  o(  the  same. 

23 


178  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  connected  series  of  conclusions  grounded 
on  empirical  Data,  in  contra-distinction  from  Science,  I  beg 
leave  {no  better  term  occurring)  in  this  place  and  for  this  pur- 
pose, to  denominate  a  Scheme. 

APHORISM  XI.  EDITOR. 

In  whatever  age  and  country,  it  is  the  prevailing  mind  and 
character  of  the  nation  to  regard  the  present  life  as  subordi- 
nate to  a  Life  to  come,  and  to  mark  the  present  state,  the 
World  of  their  Senses^  by  signs,  instruments  and  mementos  of 
its  connexion  with  a  future  state  and  a  spiritual  World ;  where 
the  Mysteries  of  Faith  are  brought  within  the  hold  of  the  peo- 
ple at  large,  not  by  being  explained  away  in  the  vain  hope  of 
accommodating  them  to  the  average  of  their  Understanding, 
but  by  being  made  the  objects  of  Love  by  their  combination 
with  events  and  epochs  of  History,  with  national  traditions, 
with  the  monuments  and  dedications  of  Ancestral  faith  and 
zeal,  with  memorial  and  symbolical  observances,  with  the  re- 
alizing influences  of  social  devotion,  and  above  all,  by  early 
and  habitual  association  with  Acts  of  the  Will ;  there  Religion 
is.  TherCj  however  obscured  by  the  hay  and  straw  of  human 
Will- work,  the  foundation  is  safe  !  In  that  country,  and  un- 
der the  predominance  of  such  Maxims,  the  national  church  is 
no  mere  State- Institute.  It  is  the  State  itself  in  its  intensest 
federal  union  ;  yet  a^  the  same  moment  the  Guardian  and  Rep- 
resentative of  all  personal  individuality.  For  the  Church  is  the 
Shrine  of  Morality  :  and  in  Morality  alone  the  Citizen  asserts 
and  reclaims  his  personal  independence,  his  integrity.  Our 
outward  Acts  are  efficient,  and  most  often  possible,  only  by  co- 
alition. As  an  efficient  power,  the  Agent  is  but  a  fraction  of 
unity  :  he  becomes  an  integer  only  in  the  recognition  and  per- 
formance of  the  Moral  Law.  Nevertheless  it  is  most  true 
(and  a  truth  which  cannot  with  safety  be  overlooked)  that  Mo- 
rality, as  Morality,  has  no  existence  for  a  People.  It  is  ei- 
ther absorbed  and  lost  in  the  quicksands  of  Prudential  Calcu- 
lus, or  it  is  taken  up  and  transfigured  into  the  duties  and  Mys- 
teries  of  Religion.     And  no  wonder :  since  Morality  (inclu- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  179 

ding  the  personal  being,  the  I  am,  as  its  su})ject)  is  itself  a 
Mystery,  and  the  ground  and  suppositum  of  all  other  Myste- 
ries, relatively  to  Man. 

APHORISM  XII.  EDITOR. 

Schemes  of  conduct,  grounded  on  calculations  of  Self-inter- 
est ;  or  on  the  average  Consequences  of  Actions,  supposing 
them  general ;  form  a  branch  of  Political  Economy,  to  which 
let  all  due  honour  be  given.  Their  utility  is  not  here  ques- 
tioned. But  however  estimable  within  their  own  sphere  such 
schemes,  or  any  one  of  them  in  particular,  may  be,  they  do 
not  belong  to  Moral  Science,  to  which  both  in  kind  and  pur- 
pose they  are  in  all  cases  foreign^  and  when  substituted  for 
it,  hostile.  Ethics,  or  the  Science  of  Morality,  does  indeed 
in  no  wise  exclude  the  consideration  of  Action  ;  but  it  con- 
templates the  same  in  its  originating  spiritual  Source,  without 
reference  to  Space  or  Time  or  Sensible  existence.  Whatev- 
er springs  out  of  "the  perfect  Law  of  Freedom,"  which  ex- 
ists only  by  its  unity  with  the  Will,  inherence  in  the  Word, 
and  communion  with  the  Spirit,  of  God — that  (according  to 
the  Principles  of  Moral  Science)  is  good — it  is  Light  and 
Righteousness  and  very  Truth.  Whatever  seeks  to  separate 
itself  from  the  Divine  Principle,  and  proceeds  from  a  false 
centre  in  the  Agent's  particular  Will,  is  evil — a  work  of  dark- 
ness and  contradiction  !  It  is  Sin  and  essential  Falsehood. 
Not  the  outward  Deed,  constructive,  destructive  or  neutral ; 
not  the  Deed  as  a  possible  Object  of  the  Senses  ;  is  the  Ob- 
ject of  Ethical  Science.  For  this  is  no  Compost,  Collectori- 
um  or  Inventory  of  Single  Duties  :  nor  does  it  seek  in  the 
"  multitudinous  Sea,"  in  the  predetermined  waves,  tides  and. 
currents  of  Nature  that  freedom,  which  is  exclusively  an  at- 
tribute of  Spirit.  Like  all  other  pure  Sciences,  whatever  it 
enunciates,  and  whatever  it  concludes,  it  enunciates  and  con- 
cludes absolutely.  Strictness  is  its  essential  Character  :  and 
its  first  Proposition  is,  "  Whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law, 
and  yet  oifend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all."  James  ii. 
10.)     For  as  the  Will  or  Spirit,  the   Source  and  Substance  of 


180  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Moral  Good,  is  one,  and  all  in  every  part :  so  must  it  be  the 
Totality,  the  whole  articulated  Series  of  Single  Acts,  taken  as 
Unity,  that  can  alone,  in  the  severity  of  Science,  be  recogni- 
zed as  the  proper  Counterpart  and  adequate  Representative 
of  a  good  Will.  Is  it  in  this  or  that  limb,  or  not  rather  in  the 
whole  body,  the  entire  Organismus,  that  the  Law  of  Life  re- 
flects itself  ?  Much  less  then  can  the  Law  of  the  Spirit  work 
in  fragments. 

APHORISM  XIIL  EDITOR. 

Wherever  there  exists  a  permanent[71]  Learned  Class, 
having  authority  and  possessing  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
the  Country ;  and  where  the  Science  of  Ethics  is  acknowl- 
edged and  taught  in  this  class  as  a  regular  part  of  a  learned 
education  to  its  future  Members  generally,  but  as  the  special 
study  and  indisj3ensable  ground-work  of  such  as  are  intended 
for  Holy  Orders  ; — there  the  Article  of  Original  Sin  will  be  an 
Axiom  of  Faith  in  all  Classes.  Among  the  Learned  an  undis- 
puted truth,  and  with  the  People  a  fact,  which  no  man  imag- 
ines it  possible  to  deny,  the  Doctrine,  thus  inwoven  in  the 
faith  of  all  and  co-eval  with  the  consciousness  of  each,  will 
for  each  and  all  possess  a  reality,  subjective  indeed,  yet  virtu- 
ally equivalent  to  that  which  we  intuitively  give  to  the  Objects 
of  our  Senses. 

With  the  Learned  this  will  be  the  case  ;  because  the  Arti- 
cle is  the  first — I  had  almost  said,  spontaneous — product  of 
the  Application  of  Moral  Science  to  History,  of  which  it  is 
the  Interpreter.  A  mystery  in  its  own  right,  and  by  the  ne- 
cessity and  essential  character  of  its  Subject — (for  the  Will, 
like  the  Life,  in  every  act  and  product  pre-supposes  itself,  a 
Past  always  present,  a  Present  that  evermore  resolves  itself 
into  a  Past ! ) — the  Doctrine  of  Original  Sin  gives  to  all  the 
other  Mysteries  of  Religion  a  common  Basis,  a  connexion  of 
dependency,  an  intelligibility  of  relation,  and  a  total  harmo- 
ny, that  supersede  extrinsic  proof.  There  is  here  that  same 
proof  from  unity  of  purpose,  that  same  evidence  of  Symme- 
try,  which  in  the    contemplation   of  a  human  skeleton   flash- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  181 

ed  conviction  on  the  mind  of  Galen  and  kindled  meditation 
into  a  hymn  of  praise. 

Meanwhile  the  People,  not  goaded  into  doubt  by  the  les- 
sons and  examples  of  their  Teachers  and  Superiors  ;  not  drawn 
away  from  the  Fixed  Stars  of  Heaven,  the  form  and  Magni- 
tude of  which  are  the  same  for  the  naked  eye  of  the  Shep- 
herd as  for  the  Telescope  of  the  Sage — from  the  immediate 
truths,  I  mean,  of  Reason  and  Conscience  to  an  exercise,  they 
have  not  been  trained  to,  of  a  Faculty  which  has  been  imper- 
fectly developed,  on  a  subject  not  within  the  sphere  of  the 
Faculty  nor  in  any  way  amenable  to  its  judgment ;  the  Peo- 
ple will  need  no  arguments  to  receive  a  doctrine  confirmed 
by  their  own  experince  from  within  and  from  without,  and  in- 
timately blended  with  the  most  venerable  Traditions  common 
to  all  races,  and  the  traces  of  which  linger  in  the  latest  Twi- 
light of  Civilization. 

Among  the  revulsions  consequent  on  the  brute  bewilder- 
ments of  a  godless  Revolution,  a  great  and  active  Zeal  for  the 
interests  of  Religion  may  be  one.  I  dare  not  trust  it,  till  I  have 
seen  what  it  is  that  gives  Religion  this  interest,  till  I  am  satis- 
fied that  they  are  not  the  interests  of  this  World  ;  necessary 
and  laudable  interests,  perhaps,  but  which  may,  I  dare  believe 
be  secured  as  effectually  and  more  suitably  by  the  Prudence 
of  this  World,  and  by  this  World's  powers  and  motives.  At 
all  events,  I  find  nothing  ii\  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  deter  me 
from  adding,  that  the  Reverse  of  the  preceding — that  where 
Religion  is  valued  and  patronized  as  a  supplement  of  Law,  or 
an  Aid  extraordinary  of  Police  ;  where  Moral  Science  is  ex- 
ploded as  the  mystic  Jargon  of  Dark  Ages  ;  where  a  lax  Sys- 
tem of  Consequences,  by  which  every  iniquity  on  earth  may 
be  ( and  how  many  have  been  ? )  denounced  and  defended  with 
equal  plausibility,  is  publicly  and  authoritatively  taught  as  Mo- 
ral Philosophy ;  where  the  Mysteries  of  Religion,  and  Truths 
supersensual,  are  either  cut  and  squared  for  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  Understanding,  "  the  faculty  judging  according  to 
Sense"  or  desperatel}'  torn  asunder  from  the  Reason,  nay,  fa- 
natically opposed  to  it ;  lastly,  where  Private [72]  Interpreta- 


182  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

tion  13  every  thing  and  the  Church  nothing — there  the  Myste- 
ry of  Original  Sin  will  be  either  rejected,  or  evaded,  or  per- 
verted into  the  monstrous  fiction  of  Hereditary  Sin,  Guilt  in- 
herited ;  in  the  Mystery  of  Redemption  metaphors  will  be 
obtruded  for  the  reality  ;  and  in  the  mysterious  Appurtenants 
and  Symbols  of  Redemption  (Regeneration,  Grace,  the  Eu- 
charist, and  Spiritual  Communion)  the  realities  will  be  evap- 
orated into  metaphors. 

APHORISM    XIV.  LEIGHTOM 

As  in  great  Maps  or  Pictures  you  will  see  the  border  deco- 
rated with  meadows,  fountains,  flowers,  &c.  lepresented  in  it, 
but  in  the  middle  you  have  the  main  design  ;  so  amongst  the 
works  of  God  is  it  with  the  fore-ordained  Redemption  of  Man. 
All  his  other  works  in  the  world,  all  the  beauty  of  the  crea- 
tures, the  succession  of  ages  and  the  things  that  come  to  pass 
in  them,  are  but  as  the  border  to  this  as  the  Mainpiece.  But 
as  a  foolish  unskilful  beholder,  not  discerning  the  excellency 
of  the  principal  piece  in  such  maps  or  pictures,  gazes  only  on 
the  fair  Border,  and  goes  no  farther — thus  do  the  greatest  part 
of  us  as  to  this  great  Work  of  God,  the  redemption  of  our 
personal  Being,  and  the  re-union  of  the  Human  with  the  Di- 
vine, by  and  through  the  Divine  Humanity  of  the  Incarnate 
Word. 

APHORISM    XV.  LUTHER. 

It  is  a  hard  matter,  yea,  an  impossible  thing  for  thy  human 
strength,  whosoever  thou  art  (without  God's  assistance),  at 
such  a  time  when  Moses  setteth  on  thee  with  the  Law  (see 
Aphorism  XII.),  when  the  holy  Law  written  in  thy  heart  ac- 
cuseth  and  condemneth  thee,  forcing  thee  to  a  comparison  of 
thy  heart  therewith,  and  convicting  thee  of  the  incompatible- 
ness  of  thy  Will  and  Nature  with  Heaven  and  Holiness  and 
an  immediate  God — that  then  thou  shouldest  be  able  to  be  of 
such  a  mind  as  if  no  Law  nor  sin  had  ever  been !  I  say  it  is 
in  a  manner  impossible  that  a  human  creature,  when  he  feel- 
eth  himself  assaulted  with  trials  and  temptations,  and  the  con- 


APHORISMS    OX    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  183 

science  hath  to  do  with  God,  and  the  tempted  man  knoweth 
that  the  root  of  temptation  is  within  him,  should  obtain  such 
mastery  over  his  thoughts  as  then  to  think  no  otherwise  than 

that  FROM  EVERLASTING     NOTHING    HATH  BEEN  BUT  ONLY  AND 

ALONE  Christ,  altogether  Grace  and  Deliverance  ! 

COMMENT. 

In  irrational  Agents,  viz.  the  Animals,  the  Will  is  hidden  or 
absorbed  in  the  Law.  The  Law  is  their  Nature.  In  the  ori- 
ginal purity  of  a  rational  Agent  the  uncorrupted  Will  is  iden- 
tical with  the  Law.  Nay,  inasmuch  as  a  Will  perfectly  iden- 
tical with  the  Law  is  one  with  the  divine  Will,  we  may  say, 
that  in  the  unfallen  rational  Agent  the  Will  constitutes  the 
Law.  But  it  is  evident  that  the  holy  and  spiritual  Power  and 
Light,  which  by  a  lyrolepsis  or  anticipation  we  have  named 
Law,  is  a  grace,  an  inward  perfection,  and  without  the  com- 
manding, binding  and  menacing  character  which  belongs  to  a 
Law,  acting  as  a  Master  or  Sovereign  distinct  from,  and  exis- 
ting, as  it  were,  externally  for,  the  Agent  who  is  bound  to 
obey  it.  Now  this  is  St.  Paul's  sense  of  the  Word  :  and  on 
this  he  grounds  his  whole  reasoning.  And  hence  too  arises 
the  obscurity  and  apparent  paradoxy  of  several  texts.  That 
the  Law  is  a  Laio  for  you  ;  that  it  acts  on  the  Will  not  in  it ; 
that  it  exercises  an  agency  from  without^  by  fear  and  coer- 
cion ;  proves  the  corruption  of  your  Will,  and  presupposes  it. 
Sin  in  this  sense  came  by  the  Law  :  for  it  has  its  essence,  as 
Sin,  in  that  counterposition  of  the  Holy  Principle  to  the  Will, 
which  occasions  this  Principle  to  be  a  Law.  Exactly  ( as  in 
all  other  points )  consonant  with  the  Pauline  doctrine  is  the 
assertion  of  John,  when  speaking  of  the  re-adoption  of  the 
redeemed  to  be  Sons  of  God,  and  the  consequent  resumption 
(I  had  almost  said,  re-absorption)  of  the  Law  into  the  Will 
( vojULov  TsXsjov  rov -y;g  sXsy^spja^,  James  i.  25.  See  page  14)  he 
says — For  the  Law  was  given  by  Moses ;  but  Grace  and 
Truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ.  P.  S.  That  by  the  Law  St.  Paul 
meant  only  the  ceremonial   Law  is  a  notion,    that  could  origi- 


184  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

nate  only  in  utter  inattention  to  the    whole  strain  and  gist  of 
the  Apostles'  Argument. 

APHORISM   XVI.  LEIGHTON  AND  ED. 

Christ's  Death  was  hoth  voluntary  and  violent.  There  was 
external  violence:  and  that  was  the  accompaniment,  or  at 
most  the  occasion,  of  his  Death.  But  there  was  internal  will- 
ingness, the  spiritual  Will,  the  Will  of  the  Spirit  and  this  was 
the  proper  cause.  By  this  Spirit  he  was  restored  from  Death : 
neither  indeed  "  was  it  possible  for  him  to  be  holden  of  it." 
(Acts  ii.  V.  24 — 27.).  "  Being  put  to  death  in  the  flesh,  but 
quickened  by  the  Spirit,"  says  St.  Peter.  But  he  is  likewise 
declared  elsewhere  to  have  died  by  that  same  Spirit,  w^hich 
here  in  opposition  to  the  violence  is  said  to  quicken  him.  Thus 
Hebrews  ix.  14.  Through  the  eternal  Spirit  he  offered  him- 
self. And  even  from  Peter's  words,  and  without  the  epithet, 
eternal,  to  aid  the  interpretation,  it  is  evident  that  the  Spirit, 
here  opposed  to  the  Flesh,  Body  or  Animal  Life,  is  of  a  high- 
er nature  and  power  than  the  individual  Soul^  which  cannot 
of  itself  return  to  re-inhabit  or  quicken  the  Body. 

If  these  points  were  niceties,  and  an  over-refining  in  doc- 
trine, is  it  to  be  believed  that  the  Apostles,  John,  Peter  and 
Paul,  with  the  Author  of  the  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews,  would  have 
layed  so  great  stress  on  them  ?  But  the  true  Life  of  Chris- 
tians is  to  eye  Christ  in  every  step  of  his  life — not  only  as 
their  Rule  but  as  their  Strength ;  looking  to  him  as  their  Pat- 
tern both  in  doing  and  in  suffering,  and  drawing  power  from 
him  for  going  through  both  :  being  without  him  able  for  no- 
thing. Take  comfort  then,  thou  that  belie  vest !  It  is  he  that 
lifts  up  the  Soul  from  the  Gates  of  Death  :  and  he  hath  said, 
/  ivill  raise  thee  up  at  the  last  day.  Thou  that  believest  in 
him,  belieA^e  him  and  take  comfort.  Yea,  when  thou  art  most 
sunk  in  thy  sad  apprehensions,  and  he  far  off  to  thy  thinking 
then  is  he  nearest  to  raise  and  comfort  thee  :  as  sometimes  it 
grows  darkest  immediately  before  day. 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  1S5 

AFHORISM  XVII.  l.  a>d  editor. 

Would  any  of  jou  be  cured  of  that  common  disease,  the 
fear  of  Death  ?  Yet  this  is  not  the  right  name  of  the  Disease, 
as  a  mere  reference  to  our  armies  and  navies  is  sufficient  to 
prove  :  nor  can  the  fear  of  death,  either  as  loss  of  life  or  pain  of 
dying,  be  justly  held  a  common  disease.  But  would  you  be 
cured  of  the  fear  and  fearful  questionings  connected  w^ith  the 
approach  of  death  ?  Look  this  way,  and  you  shall  find  more 
than  you  seek.  Christ,  the  Word  that  was  from  the  beginning, 
and  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  men,  died.  And  he, 
who  dying  conquered  death  in  his  ow^n  person,  conquered  Sin, 
and  Death  which  is  the  Wages  of  Sin,  for  thee.  And  of  this 
thou  mayest  be  assured,  if  only  thou  believe  in  him,  and  love 
him.  I  need  not  add,  keep  his  commandments  :  since  vdiere 
Faith  and  Love  are.  Obedience  in  its  threefold  character,  as 
Effect,  Reward,  and  Criterion,  follows  by  that  moral  necessity 
which  is  the  highest  form  of  freedom.  The  Grave  is  thy  bed 
of  rest,  and  no  longer  the  cold  bed  :  for  thy  Saviour  has  warm- 
ed it,  and  made  it  fragrant. 

If  then  it  be  health  and  comfort  to  the  Faithful  that  Christ 
descended  into  the  grave,  with  especial  confidence  may  we 
meditate  on  his  return  from  thence,  quickened  by  the  Sjrb'it : 
this  being  to  those  who  are  in  him  the  certain  pledge,  yea,  the 
effectual  cause  of  that  blessed  resurrection,  for  which  they 
themselves  hope.  There  is  that  union  betwixt  them  and  their 
Redeemer,  that  they  shall  rise  by  the  communication  and  vir- 
tue of  his  rising :  not  simply  by  his  jjoiver — for  so  the  wicked 
likewise  to  their  grief  shall  be  raised ;  but  theij  by  his  life  as 
their  life. 

COMMENT 
ON  THE  THREE    PRECEDING  APHORISMS. 

To  the  Reader,  who  has  consented  to  submit  his  mind  to  my 
temporary  guidance,  and  who  permits  me  to  regard  him  as  my 
Pupil  or  Junior  Fellow-student,  I  continue  to  address  myself. 
Should  he  exist  only  in  my  imagination,  let  the  bread  float  on 

24 


186  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

the  waters !     If  it  be  the  Bread  of  Life,  it  will  not  have  been 
utterly  cast  away. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment,  and  review  the  road  we  have  pass- 
ed over  since  the  Transit  from  Religious  Morality  to  Spiritual 
Religion.  My  first  attempt  was  to  satisfy  you,  that  there  is  a 
Spiritual  principle  in  Man  (p.  87 — 93),  and  to  expose  the  so- 
phistry of  the  arguments  in  support  of  the  Contrary.  Our 
next  step  was  to  clear  the  road  of  all  Counterfeits,  by  showing 
what  is  not  the  Spirit,  what  is  not  Spiritual  Religion  (p.  97 — 
101 ).  And  this  was  followed  by  an  attempt  to  establish  a  dif- 
ference in  kind  between  religious  truths  and  the  deductions  of 
speculative  science  ;  yet  so  as  to  prove,  that  the  former  are  not 
only  equally  rational  with  the  latter,  but  that  they  alone  appeal 
to  Reason  in  the  fulness  and  living  reality  of  the  Power.  This 
and  the  state  of  mind  requisite  for  the  formation  of  right  con- 
victions respecting  spiritual  Truths,  employed  our  attention 
from  p.  108 — 126.  Having  then  enumerated  the  Articles  of 
the  Christian  Faith  pecw/ia?'  to  Christianity,  I  entered  on  the 
great  object  of  the  present  work  :  viz.  the  removal  of  all  valid 
Objections  to  these  articles  on  grounds  of  right  Reason  or 
Conscience.  But  to  render  this  practicable  it  was  necessary, 
first,  to  present  each  Article  in  its  true  scriptural  purity,  by 
exposure  of  the  caricatures  of  misinterpreters  ;  and  this,  again,, 
could  not  be  satisfactorily  done  till  we  were  agreed  respecting 
the  Faculty,  entitled  to  sit  in  judgment  on  such  questions.  I 
early  foresaw,  that  my  best  chance  ( I  will  not  saj^,  of  giving 
an  insight  into  the  surpassing  worth  and  transcendent  reason- 
ableness of  the  Christian  Scheme  ;  but)  of  rendering  the  very 
question  intelligible  depended  on  my  success  in  determining 
the  true  nature  and  limits  of  the  human  Understanding,  and 
in  evincing  its  diversity  from  Reason.  In  pursuing  this  mo- 
mentous subject,  I  was  tempted  in  two  or  three  instances  into 
disquisitions,  that  if  not  beyond  the  comprehension,  were  yet 
unsuited  to  the  taste,  of  the  persons  for  whom  the  Work  was 
principally  intended.  These,  however,  I  have  separated  from 
the  running  text^  and  compressed  into  Notes.  The  Reader 
will  at  worst,  I  hope,  pass  them  by  as  a  leaf  or  two  of  waste 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  187 

paper,  willingly  given  by  him  to  those,  for  whom  it  may  not 
be  paper  wasted.  Nevertheless,  I  cannot  conceal,  that  the 
subject  itself  supposes,  on  the  part  of  the  Reader,  a  steadiness 
in  self -questioning  y  a  pleasure  in  referring  to  his  own  inward 
experience  for  the  facts  asserted  by  the  Author,  that  can  only 
be  expected  from  a  person  who  has  fairly  set  his  heart  on  arri- 
vins:  at  clear  and  fixed  conclusions  in  matters  of  Faith.  But 
where  this  interest  is  felt,  nothing  more  than  a  common  Capa- 
city, with  the  ordinary  advantages  of  education,  is  required  for 
the  complete  comprehension  both  of  the  argument  and  the  re- 
sult. Let  but  one  thoughtful  hour  be  devoted  to  the  pages 
135 — 146.  In  all  that  follows,  the  Reader  will  find  no  difficul- 
ty in  understanding  the  Author's  meaning,  whatever  he  may 
have  in  adopting  \i. 

The  two  great  moments  of  the  Christian  Religion  are,  Ori- 
ginal  Sin  and  Redemption  ;  that  the  Ground,  this  the   Super- 
structure of  our   faith.     The    former  I  have  exhibited,  first, 
according  to  the  scheme  of  the  Westminster  Divines  and  the 
Synod  of  Dorp  ;  then,  according  to  the  [73]  scheme  of  a  con- 
temporary Arminian  Divine  ;  and  lastly,  in  contrast  with  both 
schemes,  I  have  placed  what  I  firmly  believe  to  be  the  Scrip- 
tural Sense  of  this  Article,  and  vindicated  its  entire  conformity 
with  Reason  and  Experience.     I  now  proceed  to  the  other  mo- 
mentous Article — from  the  necessitating  Occasion  of  the  Chris- 
tian Dispensation  to  Christianity  itself !     For  Christianity  and 
Redemption  are  equivalent  terms.     And  here  my  Comment 
will  be  comprised  in  a  few  sentences :  for  I  confine  my  views 
to  the  one  object  of  clearing  this  awful  mystery  from  those  too 
current  misrepresentations  of  its  nature  and  import,  that  have 
laid  it  open  to  scruples  and  objections,  not  to  such  as  shoot 
forth  from  an  unbelieving  heart — ( against  these  a  sick-bed  will 
be  a  more  effectual  Antidote  than  all  the  Argument  in  the 
world  ! )  but  to  such  scruples  as  have  their  birth-place  in  the 
Reason  and  Moral  Sense.     Not  that  it  is  a  Mystery — not  that 
"  it  passeth  all  Understanding !     If  the  doctrine  be  more  than 
an  hyperbolical  phrase,  it  must  do  so.     But  that  it  is  at  vari- 
ance with  the  Law  revealed  in  the  Conscience,  that  it  contra- 


188  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

diets  our  moral  instincts  and  intuitions — this  is  the  difficulty, 
which  alone  is  worthy  of  an  answer  !  And  what  better  way 
is  there  of  correcting  the  misconceptions  than  by  laying  open 
the  source  and  occasion  of  them  ?  What  surer  way  of  remo- 
ving the  scruples  and  prejudices,  to  which  these  misconcep- 
tions have  given  rise,  than  by  propounding  the  Mystery  itself — 
namely,  the  Redemtive  Act,  as  the  transcendent  Cause  of 
Salvation — in  the  express  and  definite  words,  in  which  it  was 
enunciated  by  the  Redeemer  himself  ? 

But  here  in  addition  to  the  three  Aphorisms  preceding,  I  in- 
terpose a  view  of  redemption  as  appropriated  by  faith,  coinci- 
dent with  Leighton's  though  for  the  greater  part  expressed  in 
my  own  words.  This  I  propose  as  the  right  view.  Then 
follow  a  few  sentences  transcribed  from  Field  (an  excellent 
Divine  of  James  the  First's  reign,  of  whose  work,  entitled  the 
Church  it  would  be  difficult  to  speak  too  highly )  containing  the 
question  to  be  solved,  and  which  is  numbered  as  an  Aphorism, 
rather  to  preserve  the  uniformity  of  appearance,  than  as  being 
strictly  such.  Then  follows  the  Comment :  as  a  part  and  com- 
mencement of  which  the  Reader  will  consider  the  two  para- 
graphs of  p.  133 — 1 35,  written  for  this  purpose  and  in  the  fore- 
sight of  the  present  inquiry :  and  I  entreat  him  therefore  to 
begin  the  Comment  by  reperusing  these. 

APHORISM  XVIII. 

Stedfast  by  Faith.  This  is  absolutely  necessary  for  resis- 
tance to  the  Evil  Principle.  There  is  no  standing  out  with- 
out some  firm  ground  to  stand  on  :  and  this  Faith  alone  sup- 
plies. By  Faith  in  the  Love  of  Christ  the  power  of  God  be- 
comes ours.  When  the  Soul  is  beleaguered  by  enemies, 
Weakness  on  the  Walls,  Treachery  at  the  Gates,  and  Cor- 
ruption in  the  Citadel,  then  by  faith  she  says — Lamb  of  God, 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  World  !  thou  art  my  Strength  ! 
I  look  to  thee  for  deliverance  !  And  thus  she  overcomes.  The 
pollution  (miasma)  of  Sin  is  precipitated  by  his  Blood,  the 
power  of  Sin  is  conquered  by  his  Spirit.  The  Apostle  says 
not — stedfast  by  your  own  resolutions  and  purposes  ;  but  sted- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  189 

fast  by  faith.     Nor  yet  stedfast  in  your  Will,  but  stedfast  in 
the  faith.     We  are  not  to  be  looking  to,  or  brooding  over  our- 
selves,   either  for  accusation    or  for  confidence,  or   by  a  deep 
yet  too  frequent  self-delusion )  to   obtain  the  latter  by  making 
a  merit  to   ourselves  of  the  former.     But  we  are  to  look  to 
Christ  and  "him   crucified."     The  Law  "  that  is  very  nigh 
Ip  thee,  even   in  thy  heart ;"  the  Law   that  condemneth  and 
hath  no  promise  ;  that    stoppeth  the  guilty  Past  in  its  swift 
jflight,  and  maketh  it  disown  its  name  ;  the  Law  will  accuse 
thee  enough.     Linger  not  in  the  Justice-court,  listening  to  thy 
indictment !  Loiter  not  in  waiting  to  hear  the  Sentence  !  No  ! 
Anticipate  the  verdict !  Appeal  to  Ccesar !  Haste  to  the  King 
for  a  Pardon  !     Struggle  thitherward,  though  in  fetters  :  and 
cry  aloud,  and  collect  the  whole  remaining    strength  of  thy 
Will  in  the  outcry — I  believe  !  Lord  !  help  my  unbelief !  Dis- 
claim all  right  of  property  in  thy  fetters  !     Say,  that  they  be- 
long to  the  Old  Man,  and  that  thou  dost  but  carry  them   to 
the  Grave,  to  be  buried  with   their  owner  !     Fix  thy  thought 
on  w^hat  Christ  did,  what  Christ  suffered,  what   Christ   is — as 
if  thou  wouldst  fill  the  hollowness  of  thy  Soul  with  Christ ! 
If  he  emptied  himself  of  Glory  to   become  Sin  for  thy  Salva- 
tion, must  not  thou  be  emptied  of  thy  sinful   Self  to  become 
Righteousness  in  and  through  his  agony  and  the  effective  mer- 
its of  his  Cioss?     By  what  other  means,  in  what  other  form, 
is  it  jjossible  for  thee  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  Holy  One  ? 
With  what  mind  wouldst  thou  come  before  God,  if  not   with 
the  Mind  of  Him,   in  v/hom   alone  God   loveth  the  World  ? 
With  good  advice,  perhaps,  and  a  little  assistance,  thou  wouldst 
rather  cleanse  and  patch  up  a  mind  of  thy  own,  and  offer  it  as 
thy  admission-right,  thy  qualification,  to  him  who   "  charged 
his  angels  with  folly !"  Oh  take  counsel  of  thy  Reason  !     It 
will  show  thee  how  impossible  it  is,  that  even  a  World  should 
merit  the  love  of  Eternal  Wisdom  and  all-sufficing  Beatitude, 
otherwise  than  as  it  is  contained  in  that  all-perfect  Idea,  in 
which  the  Supreme  Mind   contemplate th  itself  and  the  pleni- 
tude of  its  infinity — the  only-begotten  before  all  ages  !  the  be- 
loved Son  in  whom  the  Father  is  indeed  well  pleased  ! 


190  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

And  as  the  Mind,  so  the  Body  with  which  it  is  to  be  clo- 
thed !  as  the  Indwelier,  so  the  House  in  which  is  to  be  the 
Abiding-place [74]  !  There  is  but  one  Wedding-garment,  in 
which  we  can  sit  down  at  the  marriage-feast  of  Heaven  :  and 
that  is  the  Bride-groom's  own  Gift,  when  he  gave  himself 
for  us  that  we  might  live  in  him  and  he  in  us.  There  is  but 
one  robe  of  Righteousness,  even  the  Spiritual  Body,  formed 
by  the  assimilative  power  of  faith  for  whoever  eateth  the  flesh 
of  the  Son  of  Man  and  drinketh  his  Blood.  Did  Christ  come 
from  Heaven,  did  the  Son  of  God  leave  the  Glory  which  he 
had  with  his  Father  before  the  World  began,  only  to  5^01^  us 
a  way  to  life,  to  teach  truths,  to  tell  us  of  a  resurrection  ?  Or 
saith  he  not,  I  am  the  way,  I  am  the  truth,  I  am  the  Resur- 
rection and  the  Life  ! 

APHORISM  XIX.  FIELD. 

The  Romanists  teach  that  sins  committed  after  baptism  (i. 
e.  for  the  immense  majority  of  Christians  having  Christian  Pa- 
rents, all  their  sins  from  the  Cradle  to  the  Grave)  are  not  so 
remitted  for  Christ's  sake,  but  that  we  must  suffer  that  extrem- 
ity of  punishment  which  they  deserve :  and  therefore  either 
we  must  afflict  ourselves  in  such  sort  and  degree  of  extremity 
as  may  answer  the  demerit  of  our  Sins,  or  be  punished  by  God 
here  or  in  the  World  to  come,  in  such  degree  and  sort  that  his 
Justice  may  be  satisfied.  [N.  B,  As  the  encysted  venom^  or 
poison-bag^  beneath  the  Adder''s  fang^  so  does  this  doctrine 
lie  beneath  the  tremendous  power  of  the  Romish  Hierarchy. 
The  demoralizing  influence  of  this  dogma,  and  that  it  curdled 
the  very  life-blood  in  the  veins  of  Christendom,  it  ivas  given  to 
Luther  beyond  all  men  since  Paul  to  see,  feel,  and  promul- 
gate. And  yet  in  his  large  Treatise  on  Repentance,  how  near 
to  the  spirit  of  this  doctrine — even  to  the  very  walls  and  gates 
of  Babylon — was  Jeremy  Taylor  driven  in  recoiling  from  the 
fanatical  extremes  of  the  opposite  error.]  But  they,  that 
are  orthodox,  teach  that  it  is  injustice  to  require  the  payment 
of  one  debt  twice.  *  *  *  It  is  no  less  absurd  to  say,  as  the 
Papists   do,    that  our  satisfaction  is  required    as  a  condition, 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  191 

without  which  Clu^isfs  satisfaction  is  not  applicable  unto  us, 
than  to  say,  Peter  hath  paid  the  debt  of  John,  and  He,  to 
whom  it  was  due,  accepteth  of  the  same  payment  on  the  con- 
dition that  John  pay  it  himself  also.  *  *  *  The  satisfaction  of 
Christ  is  communicated  and  applied  unto  us  without  suffering 
the  punishment  that  sin  deserveth,  [and  essentially  involveth, 
Ed.]  upon  the  condition  of  our  Faith  and  Repentance.  [To 
which  the  Editor  would  add  :  Without  faith  there  is  no  power 
of  repentance :  without  a  commencing  repentance  no  power 
to  faith ;  and  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  will  either  to  re- 
pent or  to  have  faith,  in  the  Gospel  Sense  of  the  words,  is 
itself  a  Consequence  of  the  Redemption  of  Mankind,  a  free 
gift  of  the  Redeemer  :  the  guilt  of  its  rejection,  the  refusing 
to  avail  ourselves  of  the  power,  being  all  that  we  can  consid- 
er as  exclusively  attributable  to  our  own  act.]  Field's  Church, 
p.  58. 

COMMENT 
(containing   an   application    of    the    PRIx\CIPLES    L.AID    DOWN    IN 

PAGE  135—136.) 

Forgiveness  of  Sin,  the  Abolition  of  Guilt,  through  the  re- 
demptive power  of  Christ's  Love,  and  of  his  perfect  Obedi- 
ence during  his  voluntary  assumption  of  Humanity,  is  expres- 
sed, on  account  of  the  resemblance  of  the  Consequences  in 
both  cases,  by  the  payment  of  a  debt  for  another,  which  Debt 
the  Payer  had  not  himself  incurred.  Now  the  improjjriation 
of  this  Metaphor — (i.  e.  the  taking  it  literally)  by  tiansferring 
the  sameness  from  the  Consequents  to  the  Antecedents,  or 
inferring  the  identity  of  the  causes  from  a  resemblance  in  the 
effects — this  is  the  point]^on  which  I  am  at  issue  :  and  the  view 
or  scheme  of  Redemption  grounded  on  this  confusion  I  be- 
lieve to  be  altogether  unscriptural. 

Indeed,  I  know  not  in  what  other  instance  I  could  better 
exemplify  the  species  of  sophistry  noticed  in  p.  141 — 142,  as 
the  Aristotelean  (x£ra/3a(fjg  fig  aXko  ^^svog,  or  clandestine  passing 
over  into  a  diverse  kind.  The  purpose  of  a  Metaphor  is  to 
illustrate  a  something  less  known  by  a  partial  identification  of 


192  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

it  with  some  other  thing  better  understood,  or  at  least  more 
familiar.  Now  the  article  of  Redemption  may  be  considered 
in  a  twofold  relation — in  relation  to  the  Antecedent ,  i.  e,  the 
Redeemer's  Act,  as  the  efficient  cause  aud  condition  of  Re- 
demption ;  and  in  relation  to  the  Consequent^  i.  e.  the  effects 
in  and  for  the  Redeemed.  Now  it  is  the  latter  relation,  in 
which  the  Subject  is  treated  of,  set  forth,  expanded,  and  en- 
forced by  St.  Paul.  The  Mysterious  Act,  the  Operative  cause 
is  transcendent [15] — Factum  est:  and  beyond  the  informa- 
tion contained  in  the  enunciation  of  the  Fact,  it  can  be  char- 
acterized only  by  the  Consequences.  It  is  the  Consequences 
of  the  Act  of  Redemption,  that  the  zealous  Apostle  would 
bring  home  to  the  minds  and  aifections  both  of  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles. Now  the  Apostle's  Opponents  and  Gainsayers  v/ere 
principally  of  the  former  class.  They  were  Jews  :  not  only 
Jews  unconverted,  but  such  as  had  partially  received  the  Gos- 
pel, and  who  sheltering  their  national  prejudices  under  the 
pretended  authority  of  Christ's  Original  Apostles  and  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem,  set  themselves  up  against  Paul  as  Fol- 
lowers of  Cephas.  Add  too,  that  Paul  himself  was  "  a  He- 
brew of  the  Hebrews;"  intimately  versed  "in  the  Jew's  re- 
ligion above  many,  his  equals,  in  his  own  nation,  and  above 
measure  zealous  of  the  traditions  of  his  fathers."  It  might, 
therefore,  have  been  anticipated,  that  his  reasoning  would  re- 
ceive its  outward  forms  and  language,  that  it  would  take  its 
predominant  colours,  from  his  own  past^  and  his  Opponents' 
present,  habits  of  thinking ;  and  that  his  figures,  images,  anal- 
ogies, and  references  would  be  taken  preferably  from  objects, 
opinions,  events,  and  ritual  observances  ever  uppermost  in  the 
imaginations  of  his  own  countrymen.  And  such  we  find  them  : 
yet  so  judiciously  selected,  that  the  prominent  forms,  the  fig- 
ures of  most  frequent  recurrence,  are  drawn  from  points  of 
belief  and  practice,  from  laws,  rites  and  customs,  that  then 
prevailed  through  the  whole  Roman  World,  and  were  common 
to  Jew  and  Gentile. 

Now  it  would  be  difficult  if  not   impossible  to  select  points 
better  suited  to   this  purpose,  as  being  equiilly  familiar  to  all 


APHORISMS  ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION,  193 

and  yet  having  a  special  interest  for  the  Jewish  Converts,  than 
tliose  are  from  which  the  learned  Apostle  has  drawn  the  four 
principal  Metaphors,  by  which  he  illustrates  the  blessed  Con- 
sequences of  Christ's  Redemption  of  Mankind.  These  are  :  1 
Sin-offerings,  sacrificial  expiation.  2.  Reconciliation,  x\tone- 
ment,  IvaTaXXa7r)[76].  3.  Ransom  from  slavery,  Redemption, 
the  buying  back  again,  or  being  bought  back,  from  r'e  and  emo. 
4.  Satisfaction  of  a  Creditor's  claims  by  a  payment  of  the  debt. 
To  one  or  other  of  these  four  heads  all  the  numerous  forms 
and  exponents  of  Christ's  Mediation  in  St.  Paul's  writings  may 
be  referred.  And  the  very  number  and  variety  of  the  words 
or  periphrases  used  by  him  to  express  one  and  the  same  thing 
furnish  the  strongest  presumptive  proof,  that  all  alike  were 
used  metaphorically.  [In  the  following  notation,  let  the  small 
letters  represent  the  effects  or  consequences^  and  the  Capitals 
the  efficient  causes  or  antecedents.  Whether  by  Causes  we 
mean  Acts  or  Agents,  is  indifferent.  Now  let  X  signify  a 
Transcendent^  i.  e.  a  Cause  beyond  our  Comprehension  and 
not  within  the  sphere  of  sensible  experience  :  and  on  the  oth- 
er hand,  let  A.  B.  C.  and  D  represent,  each  some  one  known 
and  familiar  cause  in  reference  to  some  single  and  characteris- 
tic effect:  viz.  A  in  reference  to  k,  B  to  1,  C  to  m,  and  D  to 
n.  Then  I  say  X+k  1  m  n  is  in  different  places  expressed  by 
(oras=3)  A-|-k;  B-f-l;  C-j-m;  D-j-n.  And  these  I  should 
call  metaphorical  Exponents  of  X.] 

Now  John,  the  beloved  Disciple,  who  leant  on  the  Lord's 
Bosom,  the  Evangelist  xoLTa.  irvsviia  i.  e.  according  to  the  Spir- 
it^  the  inner  and  substantial  truth  of  the  Christian  Creed — 
John,  recording  the  Redeemer's  own  words,  enunciates  the 
Fact  itself,  to  the  full  extent  in  which  it  is  enunciable  for  the 
human  mind,  simply  and  ivithout  any  metaphor^  by  identifying 
it  in  kind  with  a  fact  of  hourly  occurrence — expressing  it,  I 
say,  by  a  familiar  fact  the  same  in  kind  with  that  intended, 
though  of  a  far  lower  dignity  ; — by  a  fact  of  every  man's  ex- 
perience, knoion^  to  all,  yet  not  better  understood  than  the 
fact  described  by  it.  In  the  Redeemed  it  is  a  re-generation  a 
birth,  a  spiritual  seed  impregnated  and  evolved,  the  germinal 

25 


194  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

principle  of  a  higher  and  enduring  Life,  of  a  Spiritual  Life — - 
that  is,  a  Life,  the  actuality  of  which  is  not  dependent  on  the 
material  body,  or  limited  by  the  circumstances  and  processes 
indispensable  to  its  organization  and  subsistence.  Briefly,  it 
is  the  Differ£,ntial  of  Immortality,  of  which  the  assimilative 
power  of  Faith  and  Love  is  the  Integranty  and  the  Life  in 
Christ  the  Integration, 

But  even  this  would  be  an  imperfect  statement,  if  we  omit- 
ted the  awful  truth,  that  besides  that  dissolution  of  our  earthly 
tabernacle  which  we  call  death,  there  is  another  death,  not  the 
mere  negation  of  life,  but  its  positive  Opposite.  And  as  there 
is  a  mystery  of  Life  and  an  assimilation  to  the  Principle  of 
Life,  even  to  him  who  is  the  Life;  so  is  there  a  mystery  of 
Death  and  an  assimilation  to  the  Principle  of  Evil  afX(pj2raXy)c; 
SavaTw!  a  fructifying  of  the  corrupt  seed,  of  which  Death  is  the 
germination.  Thus  the  regeneration  to  spiritual  Hfe  is  at  the 
same  time  a  redemption  from  the  spiritual  death. 

Respecting  the  redemptive  act  itself,  and  the  Divine  Agent, 
we  know  from  revelation  that  he  "was  made  a  quickening. 
( ^wo'Ti'oiouv,  life-making)  Spirit:"  and  that  in  order  to  this  it 
was  necessary,  that  God  should  be  manifested  in  the  flesh,  that 
the  eternal  Word,  through  whom  and  by  whom  the  World 
(xotffjLo^,  the  Order,  Beauty,  and  sustaining  Law  of  visible  na- 
tures) was  and  is,  should  be  made  flesh,  assume  our  humanity 
personally,  fulfil  all  righteousness,  and  so  sufl"er  and  so  die  for 
us  as  in  dying  to  conquer  Death  for  as  many  as  should  receive 
him.  More  than  this,  the  mode,  the  possibility,  we  are  not 
competent  to  know.  It  is,  as  hath  been  already  observed  con- 
cerning the  primal  Act  of  Apostasy,  a  mystery  by  the  necessi- 
ty of  the  subject — a  mystery,  which  at  all  events  it  will  be  time 
enough  for  us  to  seek  and  expect  to  understand,  when  we  un- 
derstand the  mystery  of  our  Natural  life,  and  its  conjunction 
with  mind  and  will  and  personal  identity.  Even  the  truths, 
that  are  given  to  us  to  know,  we  can  know  only  through  faith 
in  the  spirit.  They  are  spiritual  things  that  must  be  spiritual- 
ly discerned.  Such,  however,  being  the  means  and  the  effects 
of  our  Redemption,  well  might  the  fervent  Apostle  associate  it 


ATHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION.  195 

with  whatever  was  eminently  dear  and  precious  to  ening  and 
afflicted  Mortals,  and  ( where  no  expression  could  be  commen- 
surate, no  single  title  be  other  than  imperfect )  seek  from  simili- 
tude of  effect  to  describe  the  superlative  boon  by  successively 
transferring  to  it,  as  by  a  superior  claim,  the  name  of  each  sev- 
eral Act  and  Ordinance,  habitually  connected  in  the  minds  of 
all  his  Hearers  with  feelings  of  joy,  confidence,  and  gratitude. 

Do  you  rejoice  when  the  Atonement  made  by  the  Priest 
has  removed  the  civil  stain  from  your  name,  restored  you  to 
your  privileges  as  a  Son  of  Abraham,  and  replaced  you  in  the 
respect  of  your  Brethren  ? — Here  is  an  atonement  which  takes 
away  a  deeper,  worser  stain,  an  eating  Canker-spot  in  the 
very  heart  of  your  personal  Being!  This,  to  as  many  as  re- 
ceive it,  gives  the  privilege  to  become  the  Sons  of  God  (John 
i.  12),  this  will  admit  you  to  the  society  of  Angels,  and  ensure 
you  the  rights  of  Brotherhood  with  Spirits  made  perfect! 
(Heb.  xii.  22.)  Here  is  a  Sacrifice,  a  Sin-offering  for  the 
whole  w^orld :  and  an  High  Priest,  who  is  indeed  a  Mediator, 
who  not  in  type  or  shadow  but  in  very  truth  and  in  his  own 
right  stands  in  the  place  of  Man  to  God,  and  of  God  to  Man ; 
and  who  receives  as  a  Judge  what  he  offered  as  an  Advocate. 

Would  you  be  grateful  to  one  who  had  ransomed  you  from 
slavery  under  a  bitter  foe,  or  who  brought  you  out  of  Captivi- 
ty? Here  is  redemption  from  a  far  direr  slavery,  the  slavery 
of  Sin  unto  Death!  and  he,  w^io  gave  himself  for  the  ransom, 
has  taken  Captivity  Captive ! 

Had  you  by  your  own  fault  alienated  yourself  from  your 
best,  your  only  sure  friend  ?  Had  you,  like  a  Prodigal  cast 
yourself  out  of  your  Father's  House  ?  Would  you  not  love 
the  good  Samaritan,  who  should  reconcile  you  to  your  Friend? 
Would  you  not  prize  above  all  price  the  intercession,  that  had 
brought  you  back  from  Husks  and  the  tending  of  Swine,  and 
restored  you  to  your  Father's  Arms,  and  seated  you  at  your 
Father's  Table  ? 

Had  you  involved  yourself  in  a  heavy  debt  for  certain  gew- 
gaws, for  high-seasoned  meats,  and  intoxicating  drinks,  and 
glistening  apparel,  and  in  default  of  payment  had   made  your- 


196  .  AIDS  TO    REFLECTION. 

self  over  as  a  bondsman  to  a  hard  Creditor,  who,  it  was  fore- 
known, would  enforce  the  bond  of  Judgment  to  the  last  tittle ! 
With  what  emotions  would  you  not  receive  the  glad  tidings, 
that  a  stranger,  or  a  friend  whom  in  the  days  of  your  wanton- 
ness you  had  neglected  and  reviled,  had  paid  the  debt  for 
you,  had  made  satisfaction  to  your  Creditor?  But  you  have 
incurred  a  debt  of  Death  to  the  Evil  Nature  !  you  have  sold 
yourself  over  to  Sin  !  and  relatively  to  you^  and  to  all  your 
means  and  resources,  the  Seal  on  the  Bond  is  the  Seal  of  Ne- 
cessity !  Its  stamp  is  the  Nature  of  Evil.  But  the  Stranger 
has  appeared,  the  forgiving  Friend  has  come,  even  the  Son  of 
God  from  heaven :  and  to  as  many  as  have  faith  in  his  name, 
I  say — The  Debt  is  paid  for  you  1    the  Satisfaction  has  been 

made. 

Now  to  simplify  the  argument  and  at  the  same  time  to  bring 

the  question  to  the  test,  we  will  confine  our  attention  to  the  fig- 
ure last  mentioned,  viz.  the  satisfaction  of  a  Debt.  Passing  by 
our  modern  Alogi  who  find  nothing  but  metaphors  in  either 
Apostle,  let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  with  certain  Divines  that 
our  Lord's  Words,  recorded  by  John,  and  which  in  all  places 
repeat  and  assert  the  same  Analogy,  are  to  be  regarded  as 
metaphorical ;  and  that  it  is  the  varied  expressions  of  St.  Paul 
that  are  to  be  literally  interpreted :  ex.  gr.  that  Sin  is,  or  in- 
volves an  infinite  Debt,  (in  the  proper  and  law-court  sense  of 
the  word,  debt) — a  debt  owing  by  us  to  the  vindictive  Justice 
of  God  the  Father,  which  can  only  be  liquidated  by  the  ever- 
lasting misery  of  Adam  and  all  his  posterity,  or  by  a  sum  of 
suifering  equal  to  this.  Likewise,  that  God  the  Father  by  his 
absolute  decree,  or  (as  some  Divines  teach)  through  the  ne- 
cessity of  his  unchangeable  Justice,  had  determined  to  exact 
the  full  sum  ;  which  must,  therefore,  be  paid  either  by  our- 
selves, or  by  some  other  in  our  name  and  behalf.  But  besides 
the  Debt  which  all  Mankind  contracted  in  and  through  Adam, 
as  a  Homo  Publicus,  even  as  a  Nation  is  bound  by  the  Acts  of 
its  Head  or  its  Plenipotentiary,  every  man  (say  these  Divines) 
is  an  insolvent  Debtor  on  his  own  score.  In  this  fearful  pre- 
dicament the  Son  of  God  took  compassion  on  Mankind,  and  re* 


/ 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  197 

solved  to  pay  the  debt  for  us,  and  to  satisfy  the  divine  Justice 
by  a  perfect  equivalent.  Accordingly,  by  a  strange  yet  strict 
consequence,  it  has  been  held  by  more  than  one  of  these  Di- 
vines, that  the  agonies  suffered  by  Christ  were  equal  in 
amount  to  the  sum  total  of  the  torments  of  all  Mankind  here 
and  hereafter,  or  to  the  infinite  debt,  which  in  an  endless  suc- 
cession of  instalments  we  should  have  been  paying  to  the  di- 
vine Justice,  had  it  not  been  paid  in  full  by  the  Son  of  God 
incarnate ! 

It  is  easy  to  say — 0  but  /  do  not  hold  this,  or  we  do  not 
make  this  an  article  of  our  belief!     The  true  question  is  :  Do 
you  take  deny i^art  of  it:  and  can  you  reject  the  rest  without 
being  inconsequent  ?     Are  Debt,  Satisfaction,  Payment  in  full. 
Creditors'  Rights,  &c.  nomina  propria,  by  which   the  very 
nature  of  Redemption  and  its  occasion  is  expressed  ?    or  are 
they,  with   several  others,  figures  of  speech  for  the  purpose 
of   illustrating   the    nature   and  extent  of   the   consequences 
and  effects  of  the  redemptive  Act,  and  to  excite  in  the  receiv- 
ers a  due  sense  of  the  magnitude  and  manifold  operation  of  the 
Boon,  and  of  the  Love  and  gratitude  due  to  the  Redeemer? 
If  still  you  reply,  the  former  :   then,  as  your  whole  theory  is 
grounded  on  a  notion  of  Justice,  I  ask  you — Is  this  Justice  a 
moral  Attribute  ?     But  Morality  commences  with,  and  begins 
in,  the  sacred  distinction  between  Thing  and  Person :  on  this 
distinction  all    Law  human    and  divine   is  grounded :    conse- 
quently, the  Law  of  Justice.     If  jou  attach   any  idea  to  the 
term' Justice,  as  applied  to  God,  it  must  be  the  same  which  you 
refer  to  when  you  affirm  or  deny  it   of  any  other  personal 
Agent — save  only,  that  in  its  attribution  to  God,  you  speak  of 
it  as  unmixed  and  perfect.     For  if  not,  what  do  you  mean  ? 
And  why  do  you  call  it  by  the  same  name  ?     I  may,  therefore, 
with  all  right  and  reason,  put  the  case  as  between  man  and 
man.     For  should  it  be  found  irreconcileable  with  the  Justice, 
which  the  Light  of  Reason,  made  Law  in  the  Conscience,  dic- 
tates to  Man,  how  much  more  must  it  be  incongruous  with  the 
all-perfect  Justice  of  God  ? — Whatever  case  I  should  imagine 
.would  be  felt  by  the  Reader  as  below  the  dignity  of  the  sub- 


198  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ject,  and  in  some  measure  jarring  with  his  feelings :  and  in 
other  respects  the  more  familiar  the  case,  the  better  suited  to 
the  present  purpose. 

A  sum  of   £  1000  is  owing  from  James  to  Peter,  for  which 
James  had  given  a  Bond  in  Judgment.     He  is  insolvent,  and 
the  Bond  is  on  the  point  of  being  carried  into  effect,  to  James's 
utter  ruin.     At  this  moment  Matthew  steps  in,  pays  Peter  the 
thousand  pounds  and  discharges  the  Bond.     In  this  case,  no 
man  would  hesitate  to  admit,  that  a  complete  satisfaction  had 
been  made  to  Peter.     Matthew's  £1000  is  a  perfect  equiva- 
lent of  the  sum  James  was  bound  to  have  paid,  and  for  the  sum^ 
v/hich  Peter  had  lent.     //  is  the  same  thing :  and  this  altogeth- 
er a  question  of  Things.    Now  instead  of  James  being  indebted 
te  Peter  for  a  sum  of  money,  which  (he  having  become  insol- 
vent )  MattheAV  pays  for  him,  we  will  put  the  case,  that  James 
had  been  guilty  of  the  basest  and  most  hard-hearted  ingrati- 
tude to   a  most  worthy  and  affectionate  Mother,  who  had  not 
only  performed  all  the  duties  and  tender  offices  of  a  mother, 
but  whose  whole  heart  was  bound  up  in  this  her  only  child — 
w'ho  had  foregone  all  the  pleasures  and  amusements  of  life  in 
watching  over  his  sickly  childhood,  had  sacrificed  her  health 
and   the  far  greater  part  of  her  resources  to  rescue  him  from 
the  consequences  of  his  follies  and  excesses  during  his  youth 
and  early  manhood  ;  and  to  procure  for  him  the  means  of  his 
present    Rank    and  Affluence — all   which  he  had    repaid   by 
neglect,  desertion,  and   open   profligacy.     Here  the  Mother 
stands  in  the  relation  of  the  creditor :  and  here   too  we  will 
suppose  the  same  generous  Friend  to  interfere,  and  to  perform 
with  the   greatest  tenderness  and  constancy  all  those  duties 
of  a  grateful  and  affectionate  Son,  which  James  ought  to  have 
performed.     Will  this  satisfy  the  Mother's  claims  on  James, 
or  entitle  him  to  her  Esteem,  Approbation  and  Blessing  ?     Or 
what  if  Matthew,  the  vicarious  Son,  should  at  length  address 
her  in  words  to  this  purpose  :  "  Now,  I  trust,  you  are  appeas- 
ed, and  will  be  henceforward  reconciled  to  James.  I  have  satis- 
fied all  your  claims  on  him.     I  have  paid  his  Debt  in  full:  and 
you  are  too  just  to  require  the  same   debt  to  be  paid  twice 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  199 

over.  You  will  therefore  regard  him  with  the  same  compla- 
cency, and  receive  him  into  your  presence  with  the  same  love, 
as  if  there  had  been  no  difference  between  him  and  you.  For 
I  have  made  it  up^  What  other  reply  could  the  swelling 
heart  of  the  Mother  dictate  than  this  ?  "  0  misery  !  and  is  it 
possible  that  you  are  in  league  with  my  unnatural  child  to 
insult  me  ?  Must  not  the  very  necessity  of  your  abandonment 
of  your  proper  sphere  form  an  additional  evidence  of  his  guilt  ? 
Must  not  the  sense  of  your  goodness  teach  me  more  fully  to 
comprehend,  more  vividly  to  feel  the  evil  in  him?  Must 
not  the  contrast  of  your  merits  magnify  his  Demerit  in  his 
Mother's  eye  and  at  once  recall  and  embitter  the  conviction  of 
the  canker-worm  in  his  soul  ?" 

If  indeed  by  the  force  of  Matthew's  example,  by  persuasion 
or  by  additional  and  more  mysterious  influences,  or  by  an  in- 
ward co-agency,  compatible  with  the  idea  of  a  personal  will, 
James  should  be  led  to  repent;  if  through  admiration  and  love 
of  this  great  goodness  gradually  assimilating  his  mind  to  the 
mind  of  his  benefactor,  he  should  in  his  own  person  become  a 
grateful  and  dutiful  child — then  doubtless  the  mother  would  be 
w^holly  satisfied  !  But  then  the  case  is  no  longer  a  question  of 
T/jings  [ 77 ] ,  or  a  matter  of  Debt  payable  by  another.  Never- 
theless, the  Effect^ — and  the  reader  will  remember,  that  it  is 
the  effects  and  consequences  of  Christ's  mediation,  on  which  St. 
Paul  is  dilating — the  Effect  to  James  is  similar  in  both  cases, 
i.  e.  in  the  case  of  James,  the  Debtor,  and  of  James,  the  undu- 
tiful  Son.  In  both  cases,  James  is  liberated  from  a  grievous 
burthen  ;  and  in  both  cases,  he  has  to  attribute  his  liberation 
to  the  Act  and  free  grace  of  another.  The  only  difference  is, 
that  in  the  former  case  (viz.  the  payment  of  the  debtj  the 
beneficial  Act  is,  singly  and  without  requiring  any  re-action  or 
co-agency  on  the  part  of  James,  the  efficient  cause  of  his  libe- 
ration; while  in  the  latter  case  (viz.  that  of  Redemption)  the 
beneficial  Act  is,  first,  the  indispensable  Condition,  and  then, 
the  Co-efficient. 

The  professional  Student  of  Theology  will,  perhaps,  under- 
stand the  different  positions  asserted  in  the  preceding  Argii- 


200  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ment  more  readily  if  they  are  presented  synoptically^  i.  e, 
brought  at  once  within  his  view,  in  the  form  of  Answers  to 
four  Questions,  comprising  the  constituent  parts  of  the  Scrip- 
tural Doctrine  of  Redemption.  And  I  trust  that  my  Lay  Read- 
ers of  both  sexes  will  not  allow  themselves  to  be  scared  from 
the  perusal  of  the  following  short  catechism  by  half  a  dozen 
Latin  words,  or  rather  words  with  Latin  endings,  that  trans- 
late themselves  into  English,  when  I  dare  assure  them,  that 
they  will  encounter  no  other  obstacle  to  their  full  and  easy 
comprehension  of  the  contents. 

Synopsis  of  the  Constituent  Points  in  the  Doctrine  of  Re- 
demptioriy  in  Four  Questions^  with  correspondent  Answers, 

QUESTIONS. 

r  L  Agens  Causator? 

Who  for  Whit^  is  thei  ^'  ^^^^^^^  Causativus? 
Who  (or  What;  is  the  j  3^  Effectum  Causatum? 

[  4.  Consequentia  ab  Effecto  ? 

Ansicers. 

L  The  Agent  and  Personal  Cause  of  the  Redemption  of 
Mankind  is — the  co-eternal  Word  and  only  begotten  Son  of 
the  Living  God,  incarnate,  tempted,  agonizing  {Agonistes 
aywvjjo.y-svog),  crucified,  submitting  to  Death,  resurgent,  commu- 
nicant of  his  Spirit,  ascendent,  and  obtaining  for  his  Church 
the  Descent  and  Communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Com- 
forter. 

IL  The  Causative  Act  is — a  spiritual  and  transcendent  Mys- 
tery, "  that  passeth  all  understanding," 

III.  The  Effect  caused  is — the  being  born  anew  :  as  before 
in  the  flesh  to  the  World,  so  now  born  in  the  spirit  to  Christ. 

IV.  The  Consequents  from  the  Effect  are — Sanctification 
from  Sin,  and  Liberation  from  the  inherent  and  penal  conse- 
quences of  Sin  in  the  World  to  come,  with  all  the  means  and 
processes  of  Sanctification  by  the  Word  and  the  Spirit :  these 
Consequents  being  the  same  for  the  Sinner  relatively  to  God 
and  his  own  Soul,  as  the  satisfaction  of  a  debt  for  a  Debtor 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  201 

relatively  to  his  Creditor;  as  the  sacrificial  atonement  made 
by  the  Priest  for  the  Transgressor  of  the  Mosaic  Law ;  as  the 
reconciliation  to  an  alienated  Parent  for  a  Son  who  had  es- 
tranged himself  from  his  Father's  house  and  presence  ;  and  as 
a  redemptive  Ransom  for  a  Slave  or  Captive. 

Now  I  complain,  that  this  metaphorical  Naming  of  the 
transcendent  Causative  Act  through  the  medium  of  its  proper 
effects  from  Actions  and  Causes  of  familiar  occurrence  connect- 
ed with  the  former  by  similarity  of  Result,  has  been  mistaken 
for  an  intended  designation  of  the  essential  character  of  the 
Causative  Act  itself;  and  that  thus  Divines  have  interpreted 
de  omni  what  was  spoken  de  singulo,  and  magnified  a  partial 
equation  into  a  total  identity. 

I  will  merely  hint,  to  my  more  learned  readers,  and  to  the 
professional  Students  of  Theology,  that  the  origin  of  this  error 
is  to  be  sought  for  in  the  discussions  of  the  Greek  Fathers, 
and  (at  a  later  period)  of  the  Schoolmen,  on  the  obscure  and 
abysmal  subject  of  the  Divine  A-seity,  and  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  S'oXTjfjia  and  the  /douXv),  i.  e.  the  absolute  Will,  as  the 
universal  Ground  of  all  Being,  and  the  Election  and  purpose 
of  God  in  the  personal  Idea,  as  the  Father.  And  this  View 
would  have  allowed  me  to  express  (what  I  believe  to  be)  the 
true  import  and  scriptural  idea  of  Redemption  in  terms  much 
more  nearly  resembling  those  used  ordinarily  by  the  Calvinis- 
tic  Divines,  and  with  a  conciliative  shoio  of  coincidence.  But 
this  motive  was  outweighed  by  the  reflection,  that  I  could  not 
rationally  have  expected  to  be  understood  by  those,  to  whom 
I  most  wish  to  be  intelligible  :  et  si  non  vis  intelligi,  cur  vis 
legi  ? 

N.  B.  Not  to  countervene  the  purpose  of  a  Synopsis,  I 
have  detached  the  confirmative  or  explanatory  remarks  from 
the  Answers  to  Questions  II.  and  III.  and  place  them  below 
as  Scholia.  A  single  glance  of  the  eye  will  enable  the  read- 
er to  re-connect  each  with  the  sentence  it  is  supposed  to  fol- 
low. 

26 


202  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Scholium  to  Ans.  II. 

Nevertheless,  the  fact  or  actual  truth  having  been  assured 
to  us  by  Revelation^  it  is  not  impossible,  by  steadfast  medita- 
tion  on  the  idea  and  super-natural  character  of  a  personal 
Will,  for  a  mind  spiritually  disciplined  to  satisfy  itself,  that 
the  redemptive  act  supposes  (and  that  our  redemption  is  even 
negatively  conceivable  only  on  the  supposition  of)  an  Agent  who 
can  at  once  act  on  the  Will  as  an  exciting  cause,  quasi  ab  extra  ; 
and  in  the  Will,  as  the  condition  of  its  potential,  and  the 
ground  of  its  actual,  Being. 

Scholium  to  Ans.  III. 

Where  two  subjects,  that  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation 
of  antithesis  (or  contradistinction)  are  connected  by  a  middle 
term  common  to  both^  the  sense  of  this  middle  term  is  indiffer- 
ently  determinable  by  either  :  the  preferability  of  the  one  or 
the  other  in  any  given  case  being  decided  by  the  circumstance 
of  our  more  frequent  experience  of,  or  greater  familiarity  withj 
the  Term  in  this  connexion.  Thus,  if  I  put  Hydrogen  and 
Oxygen  Gas,  as  opposite  Poles,  the  term  Gas^  is  common  to 
both  ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference,  by  which  of  the  two 
bodies  I  ascertain  the  sense  of  the  Term,  But  if  for  the  con- 
joint purposes  of  connexion  and  contrast,  I  oppose  transparent 
crystalized  Alumen  to  opake  derb  [unchrystalized]  Alumen; 
it  may  easily  happen  to  be  far  more  convenient  for  me  to  show 
the  sense  of  the  middleterm,  i.  e.  Alumen,  by  a  piece  of  Pipe- 
clay than  by  a  Sapphire  or  Ruby  ;  especially,  if  I  should  be  de- 
scribing the  beauty  and  preciousness  of  the  latter  to  a  female 
Peasant,  or  in  a  District,  where  a  Ruby  was  a  rarity  which  the 
Fewest  only  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing.  This  is  a  plain  rule 
of  common  Logic  directed  in  its  application  by  Common  Sense^ 

Now  let  us  apply  this  to  the  case  in  hand.  The  two  oppo- 
sites  hei^e  are  Flesh  and  Spirit,  this  in  relation  to  Christy  that 
in  relation  to  the  World :  and  these  two  Opposites  are  con- 
nected by  the  middle  term,  Birtli^  which  is  of  course  common 
to  both.     But  for  the  same  reason,  as  in  the  instance  last-men- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  2{Jo 

tioned,  the  interpretation  of  the  common  term  is  to  be  ascer- 
tained from  its  known  sense,  in  the  more  familiar  connexion — 
Birth,  namelv,  in  relation  to  our  natural  life  and  to  the  Organ- 
ized Body,  by  which  we  belong  to  the  present  World.  What- 
ever the  W'Ord  signifies  in  this  connexion,  the  same  cssenfially 
(in  kind  though  not  in  dignity  and  value)  must  be  its  signifi- 
cation in  the  other.  How  else  could  it  be  (what  yet  in  this 
text  it  undeniably  t5),  the  j-)it7i6'^wm  indiff evens  or  nota  commu- 
nis^ of  the  Thesis  (Flesh:  the  World)  and  the  Antithesis 
(  Spirit :  Christ)?  W^e  might,  therefore,  supposing  a  writer  to 
have  been  speaking  of  River-water  in  distinction  from  Rain- 
water, as  rationally  pretend  that  in  the  latter  phrase  the  term. 
Water,  was  to  be  understood  metaphorically,  as  that  the  word, 
Birth,  is  a  metaphor^  and  "  means  only  "  so  and  so,  in  the  Gos- 
pel according  to  St.  John. 

There  is,  I  am  aware,  a  numerous  and  powerful  Party  in 
our  church,  so^  numerous  and  }X)werful  as  not  seldom  to  be 
entitled  the  Church,  who  hold  and  publicly  teach,  that  "  Re- 
generation is  only  Baptism."  Nay,  the  W'riter  of  the  Article 
on  the  Lives  of  Scott  and  Newton  in  our  ablest  and  most  re- 
spectable Review,  is  but  one  among  many  who  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  brand  the  contrary  opinion  as  heterodoxy,  and  schis- 
matical  superstition.  I  trust,  that  I  think  as  seriously,  as  most 
men,  of  the  evil  of  Schism ;  but  with  every  disposition  to  pay 
the  utmost  deference  to  an  acknowledged  majority,  including, 
it  is  said,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  present  Dignitaries  of 
our  Church,  I  cannot  but  think  it  a  sufficient  reply,  that  if  Re- 
generation means  baptism.  Baptism  must  mean  regeneration  : 
and  this  too,  as  Christ  himself  has  declared,  a  regeneration  in 
the  Spirit.  Now  I  would  ask  these  Divines  this  simple  ques- 
tion. Do  they  beiievingly  suppose  a  spiritual  regenerative 
power  and  agency  inhering  in  or  accompanying  the  sprinkling 
a  few  drops  of  water  on  an  infant's  face  ?  They  cannot  evade 
the  question  by  saying  that  Baptism  is  a  type  or  sign.  For 
this  would  be  to  supplant  their  own  assertion,  that  Regenera- 
tion means  Baptism,  by  the  contradictory  admission,  that 
Regeneration  is  the  significatum,  of  which  Baptism  is  the  sig- 


204  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

iiificant.  Unless,  indeed,  they  would  incur  the  absurdity  of 
saying,  that  regeneration  is  a  type  of  regeneration,  and  Bap- 
tism a  type  of  itself — or  that  Baptism  only  means  Baptism ! 
And  this  indeed  is  the  plain  consequence,  to  which  they  might 
be  driven,  should  they  answer  the  above  question  in  the  nega- 
tive. 

But  if  their  answer  be.  Yes  !  we  do  suppose  and  believe 
this  efficiency  in  the  baptismal  act — I  have  not  another  word 
to  say.  Only,  perhaps,  I  might  be  permitted  to  express  a 
hope,  that  for  consistency's  sake  they  would  speak  less  slight- 
ingly of  the  insufflation  and  extreme  unction  used  in  the  Romish 
Church :  notwithstanding  the  not  easily  to  be  answered  argu- 
ments of  our  Christian  Mercury,  the  all-eloquent  Jeremy  Tay- 
lor, respecting  the  latter, — "  which,  since  it  is  used  when  the 
man  is  above  half  dead,  when  he  can  exercise  no  act  of  under- 
standing, it  must  needs  be  nothing.  For  no  7'ational  man  can 
thinky  that  any  ceremony  can  make  a  spii^itual  change  ivith- 
out  a  spiritual  act  of  him  that  is  to  be  changed ;  nor  that  it 
can  work  by  loay  of  nature^  or  by  chann,  but  morally  and  af- 
ter the  manner  of  reasonable  creatures^ 

Taylor's  Epist.  Dedic.  to  his  Holy  Dying,  p.  6. 

It  is  too  obvious  to  require  suggestion,  that  these  words 
here  quoted  apply  with  yet  greater  force  and  propriety  to  the 
point  in  question :  as  the  babe  is  an  unconscious  subject,  which 
the  dying  man  need  not  be  supposed  to  be.  My  avowed  con- 
victions respecting  Regeneration  with  the  spiritual  baptism,  as 
its  Condition  and  Initiative,  (Luke  iii.  16;  Mark  i.  8;  Matt, 
iii.  11 ),  and  of  which  the  sacramental  Rite,  the  Baptism  of 
John,  was  appointed  by  Christ  to  remain  as  the  Sign  and  Fig- 
ure; and  still  more,  perhaps  my  belief  respecting  the  Mystery 
of  the  Eucharist,  (concerning  which  I  hold  the  same  opinions 
as  Bucer,  Strype's  Life  of  Archb.  Cranmer,  Appendix),  Peter 
Martyr,  and  presumably  Cranmer  himself — these  convictions 
and  this  belief  will,  I  doubt  not,  be  deemed  by  the  Orthodox 
de  more  Grotii,  who  improve  the  letter  of  Arminius  Avith  the 
spirit  of  the  Socini,  sufficient  data  to  bring  me  in  guilty  of  ir- 
rational and  superstitious  Mysticism.     But  1  abide   by  a  max- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  205 

im,  which  I  learnt  at  an  early  period  of  my  theological  studies, 
from  Benedict  Spinoza.  Where  the  Alternative  lies  between 
the  Absurd  and  the  Incomprehensible,  no  wise  man  can  be  at 
a  loss  which  of  the  two  to  prefer.  To  be  called  irrational,  is  a 
trifle :  to  be  so,  and  in  matters  of  religion,  is  far  otherwise : 
and  whether  the  irrationality  consists  in  men's  believing  (i.  e. 
in  having  persuaded  themselves  that  they  believe)  against 
reason,  or  ivithout  reason,  I  have  been  early  instructed  to  con- 
sider it  as  a  sad  and  serious  evil,  pregnant  with  mischiefs,  po- 
litical and  moral.  And  by  none  of  my  numerous  Instructors 
so  impressively,  as  by  that  great  and  shining  Light  of  our 
Church  in  the  sera  of  her  intellectual  splendour.  Bishop  Jeremy 
Taylor :  from  one  of  whose  works,  and  that  of  especial  authori- 
ty for  the  safety  as  well  as  for  the  importance  of  the  principle, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  written  expressly  ad  populum,  I  will  now, 
both  for  its  own  intrinsic  worth,  and  to  relieve  the  attention, 
wearied,  perhaps,  by  the  length  and  argumentative  character 
of  the  preceding  discussion j  interpose  the  following  Aphorism. 

APHORISM   XX.  JER.  TAYLOR. 

Whatever  is  against  right  reason,  that,  no  faith  can  oblige 
us  to  believe.  For  though  Reason  is  not  the  positive  and  af- 
firmative measure  of  our  faith,  and  our  faith  ought  to  be  larger 
than  our  (speculative)  Ytesison^  (see  p.  120)  and  take  something 
into  her  heart,  that  Reason  can  never  take  into  her  eye ;  yet 
in  all  our  creed  there  can  be  nothing  against  reason.  If  Rea- 
son justly  contradicts  an  article,  it  is  not  of  the  household  of 
Faith.  In  this  there  is  no  difficulty,  but  that  in  practice  we 
take  care  that  we  do  not  call  that  Reason,  which  is  not  so  (see 
p.  110,  111,  142).  For  although  Reason  is  a  right  Judge[78], 
yet  it  ought  not  to  pass  sentence  in  an  enquiry  of  faith,  until 
all  the  information  be  brought  in  ;  all  that  is  within,  and  all  that 
is  without,  all  that  is  above,  and  all  that  is  below  ;  all  that  con- 
cerns it  in  experience  and  all  that  concerns  it  in  act ;  whatso- 
ever is  of  pertinent  observation  and  whatsoever  is  revealed. 
For  else  Reason  may  argue  very  well  and  yet  conclude  falsely. 
•it  may  conclude  well  in  Logic,  and  yet  infer  a  false  proposition 


208  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

in  Theology  {p.  110,  line  27).  But  when  our  Judge  is  fully 
and  truly  informed  in  all  that,  whence  she  is  to  make  her 
Judgment,  we  may  safely  follow  her  whithersoever  she  invites 
us. 

APHORISM    XXI.  JER.  TAYLOR. 

He  that  speaks  against  his  own  Reason,  speaks  against 
his  own  Conscience:  and  therefore  it  is  certain,  no  man 
serves  God  with  a  good  conscience,  who  serves  him  against 
his  reason. 

APHORISM   XXII.  THE  SAME. 

By  the  eye  of  Reason  through  the  telescope  of  Faith,  i.  e. 
Revelation,  we  may  see  what  without  this  telescope  we  could 
never  have  known  to  exist.  But  as  one  that  shuts  the  eye 
hard,  and  with  violence  curls  the  eye-lid,  forces  a  phantastic 
fire  from  the  chrystaliine  humour,  and  espies  a  light  that  never 
shines,  and  sees  thousands  of  little  fires  that  never  burn ;  so  is 
he  that  blinds  the  eye  of  Reason,  and  pretends  to  see  by  an 
eye  of  Faith.  He  makes  little  images  of  Notions,  and  some 
atoms  dance  before  him  ;  but  he  is  not  guided  by  the  light,  nor 
instructed  by  the  proposition,  but  sees  like  a  man  in  his  sleep. 
In  no  case  can  true  Reason  and  a  right  Faith  oppose 
EACH  other. 

NOTE  PREFATORY  TO  APHORISM  XXIII. 

Less  on  my  own  account,  than  in  the  hope  of  fore-arming 
my  youthful  friends,  I  add  one  other  Transcript  from  Bishop 
Taylor,  as  from  a  Writer  to  whose  name  no  taint  or  suspicion 
of  Calvinistic  or  schismatical  tenets  can  attach,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  softening  the  oftence  which,  I  cannot  but  foresee,  will 
be  taken  at  the  positions  asserted  in  paragraph  the  first  of 
Aphorism  VII.  p  127,  and  the  documental  proofs  of  the  same 
in  p.  130,  131  :  and  this  by  a  formidable  party  composed  of 
men  ostensibly  of  the  most  dissimilar  Creeds,  regular  Church- 
Divines,  voted  orthodox  by  a  great  majority  of  suffrages,  and 
the  so-called  Free-thinking  Christians,  and  Unitarian  Divines. 
It  is  the  former  class  alone  that  I  wish  to  conciliate :  so  far  at 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  207 

least  as  it  may  be  done  by  removing  the  aggravation  of  novelty 
from  the  offensive  article.  And  surely  the  simple  re-asscr- 
tion  of  one  of  "the  two  great  things,"  which  Bishop  Taylor 
could  assert  as  a  fact,  which,  he  took  for  granted,  no  Christian 
would  think  of  controverting,  should  at  least  be  controverted 
without  bitterness  by  his  successors  in  the  Church.  That 
which  was  perfectly  safe  and ''orthodox  in  1657,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  a  devoted  Royalist  and  Episcopalian,  must  be  at  most 
but  a  venial  heterodoxy  in  1825.  For  the  rest,  I  am  prepared 
to  hear  in  answer — what  has  already  been  so  often,  and  with 
such  theatrical  effect  dropt,  as  an  extinguisher^  on  my  argu- 
ments— the  famous  concluding  period  of  one  of  the  chapters  in 
Paley's  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy,  declared  by  Dr,  Parr 
the  finest  prose  passage  in  English  Literature.  Be  it  so  !  I 
bow  to  so  great  an  authority.  But  if  the  learned  Doctor  would 
impose  it  on  me  as  the  truest  as  well  as  the  finest,  or  expect 
me  to  admire  the  Logic  equally  with  the  Rhetoric — a^jtfTa/xai. 
I  start  off!  As  I  have  been  unenglish  enough  to  find  in  Pope's 
tomb-epigram  on  Sir  Isaac  Newton  nothing  better  than  a  gross 
and  wrongful  falseheod  conveyed  in  an  enormous  and  irreve^ 
rent  hyperbole ;  so  with  regard  to  this  passage  in  question^ 
free  as  it  is  from  all  faults  of  taste,  I  have  yet  the  hardihood  to 
confess,  that  in  the  sense  in  which  the  words  discover  and 
prove^  are  here  used  and  intended,  I  am  not  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  the  principle,  (that  he  alone  discovers  who  proves),. 
and  I  question  the  correctness  of  the  particular  case,  brought 
as  instance  and  confirmation.  I  doubt  the  validity  of  the  as- 
sertion as  a  general  rule ;  and  I  deny  it,  as  applied  to  matters 
offaithj  to  the  verities  of  religion,  in  the  belief  of  which  there- 
must  always  be  somewhat  of  moral  election,  "an  act  of  the 
Will  in  |it  as  well  as  of  the  Understanding,  as  much  love  in 
it  as  discursive  power.  True  Christian  Faith  must  have  in  it 
something  of  in-evidence,  something  that  must  be  made  up  by 
duty  and  by  obedience." — Taylor's  Worthy  Communicant,  p, 
160.  But  most  readily  do  I  admit,  and  most  fervently  do  I 
contend,  that  the  Miracles  worked  by  Christ,  both  as  miracles 
and  as  fulfilments  of  prophecy,  both  as  signs  and  as  wonders, 


208  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

made  plain  discovery,  and  gave  unquestionable  proof,  of  his 
divine  character  and  authority  ;  that  they  were  to  the  whole 
Jewish  nation  true  and  appropriate  evidences,  that  He  was  in- 
deed come  who  had  promised  and  declared  to  their  Forefa- 
thers, Behold,  your  God  will  come  with  vengeance,  {Matt.  x. 
34,  Luke  xii.  49),  even  God  a  recompense!  He  will  come 
and  save  you  !  (Isaiah  xxxv.  4,  compared  with  Matt.  x.  34, 
and  Luk^  xii.  49. )  I  receive  them  as  proofs,  therefore,  of  the 
truth  of  every  word,  which  he  taught  who  was  himself  The 
Word  :  and  as  sure  evidences  of  the  final  victory  over  death 
and  of  the  life  to  come,  in  that  they  were  manifestations  of 
Him,  who  said:  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life  ! 

The  obvious  inference  from  the  passage  in  question,  if  not 
its  express  import,  is :  Miracula  experimento  crucis  esse,  quo 
solo  probandum  erat.  Homines  non,  pecudum  instar,  omnino 
perituros  esse.  Now  this  doctrine  I  hold  to  be  altogether  al- 
ien from  the  spirit^  and  without  authority  in  the  letter^  of 
Scripture.  I  can  recall  nothing  in  the  history  of  human  Be- 
lief, that  should  induce  me,  I  find  nothing  in  my  own  moral 
Being  that  enables  me,  to  understand  it.  I  can,  however,  per- 
fectly well  understand,  the  readiness  of  those  Divines  in  hoc 
Paleii  Dictum  ore  pleno  jurare,  qui  nihil  aliud  in  toto  Evan- 
gelio  invenire  posse  profitentur.  The  most  unqualified  admira- 
tion of  this  superlative  passage  I  find  perfectly  in  character 
for  those,  who  while  Socinianism  and  Ultra- Socinianism  are 
spreading  like  the  roots  of  an  Elm,  on  and  just  below  the  sur- 
face, throush  the  whole  land,  and  hc7X  and  there  at  least  have 
even  dipt  under  the  garden-fence  of  the  Church,  and  blunt  the 
edge  of  the  Labourer's  spade  in  the  gayest  parterres  of  our 
Baal-hamon,  ( Sol.  Song,  viii.  1 1 ) — who,  while  Heresies,  to 
which  the  Framers  and  Compilers  of  our  Liturgy,  Homilies  and 
Articles  would  have  refused  the  very  name  of  Christianity, 
meet  their  eyes  on  the  List  of  Religious  Denominations  for 
every  City  and  large  Town  throughout  the  kingdom — can  yet 
congratulate  themselves  with  Dr.  Paley  (in  his  Evidences) 
that  the  Rent  has  not  reached  the  foundation — i.  e.  that  the 
Corruption  of  Man's  Will;  that  the  responsibility  of  man  in 


APHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION.  209 

any  sense  in  which  it  is  not  equally  predicable  of  Dogs  and 
Horses  ;  that  the  Divinity  of  our  Lord,  and  even  liis  pie-exis- 
tence ;  that  Sin,  and  Redemption  through  the  merits  of  Christ ; 
and  Grace ;  and  the  especial  aids  of  the  Spirit ;  and  the  effica- 
cy of  Prayer;  and  the  subsistency  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  may  all 
be  extruded  without  breach  or  rent  in  the  Essentials  of  Chris- 
tian Faith ! — that  a  Man  may  deny  and  renounce  them  all,  and 
remain  di  fundamental  Christian,  notwithstanding !  But  there 
are  many  that  cannot  keep  up  with  Latitudinarians  of  such  a 
stride :  and  I  trust,  that  the  majority  of  serious  Believers  are 
in  this  predicament.  Now  for  all  these  it  would  seem  more 
in  character  to  be  of  Bishop  Taylor's  opinion,  that  the  Belief 
in  question  is  presupposed  in  a  convert  to  the  Truth  in  Christ, 
but  at  all  events  not  to  circulate  in  the  great  whispering  galle- 
ry of  the  Religious  Public  suspicions  and  hard  thoughts  of 
those  who,  like  myself,  are  of  this  opinion  !  who  do  not  dare 
decry  the  religious  instincts  of  Humanity  as  a  baseless  dream ; 
who  hold,  that  to  excavate  the  ground  under  the  faith  of  all 
mankind,  is  a  very  questionable  method  of  building  up  our 
faith,  as  Christians ;  who  fear,  that  instead  of  adding  to,  they 
should  detract  from  the  honor  of  the  Incarnate  Vv^ord  by  dis- 
paraging the  light  of  the  Word,  that  was  in  the  beginning,  and 
which  lighteth  every  man  ;  and  who,  under  these  convictions, 
can  tranquilly  leave  it  to  be  disputed,  in  some  new  "Dialogues 
in  the  Shades,"  between  the  fathers  of  the  Unitarian  Church 
on  one  side,  and  Maimonides,  Moses  Mendelsohn,  and  Lessing 
on  the  other,  whether  the  famous  passage  in  Paley  does  or 
does  not  contain  three  dialectic  flaws,  Petitio  principii,  Argu- 
mentum  in  circulo,  and  Argumentum  contra  rem  a  premisso  rem 
ipsam  includente. 

Yes  !  fervently  do  I  contend,  that  to  satisfy  the  Understand- 
ing, that  there  is  a  Future  State,  was  not  the  specific  Object  of 
'the  Christian  Dispensation ;  and  that  neither  the  Belief  of  a 
Future  State,  nor  the  Ratioyiality  of  this  belief,  is  the  exclu- 
sive Attribute  of  the  Christian  ReKgion.  An  essential^  a  fun- 
damental^ Article  of  all  Religion  it  is,  and  therefore  of  the 
Christian  ;   but  otherwise  than  as  in  connexion  with  the   Sal- 

27 


210  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

vation  of  Mankind  from  the  terrors  of  that  State,  among  the 
essential  Articles  peculiar  to  the  Gospel  Creed  ( those,  for  in- 
stance, by  which  it  is  confra-distinguished  from  the  Creed  of 
a  religious  Jew)  I  do  not  place  it.  And  before  sentence  is 
passed  against  me,  as  heterodox,  on  this  ground,  let  not  my 
Judges  forget,  who  it  was  that  assured  us,  that  if  a  man  did  not 
believe  in  a  state  of  retribution  after  death,  previously  and  on 
other  grounds,  "  neither  would  he  believe,  though  a  man 
should  be  raised  from  the  dead." 

Again,  I  am  questioned  as  to  my  proofs  of  a  future  state,  by 
men  who  are  so  far,  and  only  so  far,  professed  believers,  that 
they  admit  a  God,  and  the  existence  of  a  Law  from  God  :  I 
give  them :  and  the  Questioners  turn  from  me  with  a  scoff  or 
incredulous  smile.  Now  should  others  of  a  less  scanty  Creed 
infer  the  weakness  of  the  reasons  assigned  by  me  from  their 
failure  in  convincing  thescmew. ;  may  I  not  remind  them.  Who 
it  was,  to  whom  a  similar  question  was  proposed  by  men  of 
the  same  class  ?  But  at  all  events  it  will  be  enough  for  my 
own  support  to  remember  it ;  and  to  know  that  He  held  such 
Questioners,  who  could  not  find  a  sufficing  proof  of  this  great 
all-concerning  verity  in  the  words, "  The  God  of  Abraham,  the 
God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob,"  unworthy  of  any  other 
answer  !  men  not  to  be  satisfied  by  any  proof ! — by  any  such 
proofs,  at  least,  as  are  compatible  with  the  ends  and  purposes 
of  all  religious  conviction  !  by  any  proofs,  that  would  not  de- 
stroy the  faith  they  were  intended  to  confirm,  and  reverse  the 
whole  character  and  quality  of  its  effects  and  influences!  But 
if,  notwithstanding  all  here  offered  in  defence  of  my  opinion, 
I  must  still  be  adjudged  heterodox  and  in  error, — what  can  I 
say,  but  malo  cum  Platone  errare,  and  take  refuge  behind  the 
ample  shield  of  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor. 

APHORISM    XXIII.  TAYLOR. 

In  order  to  his  own  glory,  and  for  the  manifestation  of  his 
goodness,  and  that  the  accidents  of  this  world  might  not  over- 
much trouble  those  good  men  who  suffered  evil  things,  God 
was  pleased  to  do  two  great  things.    The  one  was  ;  that  he 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL,    RELIGION.  211 

sent  his  Son  into  the  World  to  take  upon  him  our  Nature,  that 
every  man  might  submit  to  a  necessity,  from  which  God's  own 
Son  was  not  exempt,  when  it  behoved  even    Christ  to  suffer^ 
and  so  to  enter  into  glory.     The  other  great  thing  was :    that 
God  did  not  only  by  Revelation  and  the  Sermons  of  the  Proph- 
ets to  his    Chtirch  ;  but  even  to  all  Mankind  competently 
teach,  and  effectively  persuade,  that  the  Soul  of  Man  does  not 
die  ;    that  though  things  w'ere  ill  here,  yet  to  the  good  who 
usually  feel  most  of  the  evils  of  this  life,  they  should  end  in 
honor  and  advantages.     And  therefore  Cicero  had  reason  on 
his  side  to  conclude,  that  there  is  a  time  and  place  after  this 
life,  wherein  the  wicked  shall  be  punished  and  the  virtuous 
rewarded  ;   when  he  considered,  that  Orpheus  and  Socrates, 
and  how  many  others,  just  men  and  benefactors  of  mankind, 
were  either  slain  or  oppressed  to  death  by  evil  men.     (  Com- 
pare Heb.  ch.  xi.  v.  36 — 39.)     "  And  all  these  received  not  the 
promise.''''    But  when  Virtue  made  men  poor  ;  and  free  speak- 
ing of  brave  truths  made  the  wise  to  lose  their  liberty ;  when 
an  excellent  life  hastened  an  opprobrious  death,  and  the  obey- 
ing Reason  and  our  Conscience  lost  us  our  Lives,  or  at  least 
all  the  means  and  conditions  of  enjoying  them  :    it  was  but 
time  to  look  about  for  another  state  of  things,  where  Justice 
should  rule  and  Virtue  find  her  own  portion.     And  therefore 
Men  cast  out  every  line,  and  turned  every  stone  and  tried  ev- 
ery argument :   and  sometimes  proved  it  well.,  and  when  they 
did  not.,  yet  they  believed  strongly ;  and  they  were  sure  of 

THE  THING,  EVEN  WHEN  THEY  WERE  NOT  SURE  OF  THE  ARGU- 
MENT.— ( Sermon  at  the  Funeral  of  Sir  George  Dalston,  2Sth 
Sept.  1657,  Y^.  2.) 

COMMENT 

A  fact  may  be  truly  stated,  and  yet  the  Causes  or  Reasons 
assigned  foi  it  mistaken  ;  or  inadequate  ;  or  pars  pro  toto,  one 
only  or  few  of  many  that  might  or  should  have  been  adduced. 
The  preceding  Aphorism  is  an  instance  in  point.  The  Phse- 
nomenon  here  brought  forw^ard  by  the  Bishop,  as  the  ground 
and  occasion  of  men's  belief  of  a  future  state — viz.  the  fre- 


212  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

quent,  not  to  say  ordinary,  disproportion  between  moral  worth 
and  worldly  prosperity — must,  indeed,  at  all  times  and  in  all 
countries  of  the  Civilized  World  have  led   the  observant  and 
reflecting  Few,  the  men  of  meditative  habits  and  strong  feel- 
ings of  natural  equity,  to  a  nicer  consideration  of  the  current 
Belief,  whether  instinctive  or  traditional.    By  forcing  the  Soul 
in  upon  herself,  this  Enigma  of  Saint  and  Sage  from  Job,  David 
and  Solomon  to  Claudian  and  Boetius,  this  perplexing  disparity 
of  success  and  desert,  has,  I  doubt  not,  with  such  men  been 
the  occasion  of  a  steadier  and  more  distinct  consciousness  of  a 
Something  in  man  different  m  kindj  and  which  not  merely  dis- 
tinguishes but  contra-distinguishes,  him  from   animals — at  the 
same  time  that  it  has  brought  into  closer  view  an  enigma  of 
yet  haider  solution^the  fact,  I  mean,  of  a  Contradiction  in  the 
Human  Being,  of  which  no  traces  are  observable  elsewhere, 
in  animated  or  inanimate  nature [79]  !      A  struggle  of  jarring 
impulses ;    a  mysterious  diversity  between  the  injunctions  of 
the  mind  and  the  elections  of  the  will ;  and  ( last  not  least )  the 
utter  incommensurateness  and  the  unsatisfying  qualities  of  the 
things  around  us,  that  yet  are  the  only  objects  which  our  sens- 
es discover  or  our  appetites  require  us  to  pursue.     Hence  for 
the  finer  and  more  contemplative  spirits  the  ever-strengthen- 
ing suspicion,  that  the  two  Phsenomena   must  some  way   or 
other  stand   in  close  connexion  with  each  other,  and  that  the 
Riddle  of  Fortune  and  Circumstance  is  but  a  form  or  effluence 
of  the  Riddle  of  Man  !  And  hence  again,  the  persuasion,  that  the 
solution  of  both  problems  is  to  be  sought  for — hence  the  presen- 
timent that  this  solution  will  be  found,  in  the  con/m-distinctive 
Constituent  of  Humanity,  in  the  Something  of  Human  Nature 
which  is  exclusively  human  !  And  as  the  objects  discoverable  by 
the  senses,  as  all  the  Bodies  and  Substances  that  we  can  touch, 
measure,  and  weigh,  are  either  mere  Totals,  the  unity  of  which 
results  from  the  parts,  often  accidental^  as  that  of  a  pebble,  and 
always  only  apparent  ;  or  Substances,  whose  Unity  of  Action 
is  owing  to  the  nature  or  arrangement  of  the  partible  bodies 
which  they  actuate  or  set  in  motion ;  Steam,  for  instance,  in  a 
steam-engine,  or  the  (so  called)  imponderable  fluids; — as  on 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  213 

one  hand  the  conditions  and  known  or  conceivable  properties  of 
all  the  objects,  that  cease  to  be,  and  whose  whole  of  existence 
is  then  a  detached  and  completed  Past,  that  links  on  to  no 
Present ;  as  all  the  properties,  that  we  ourselves  have  in  com- 
mon with  these  perishable  things,  differ  in  kind  from  the  acts 
and  properties  peculiar  to  our  Humanity,  so  that  the  former 
cannot  even  be  conceived,  cannot  without  a  contradiction  in 
terms  be  predicated,  of  the  proper  and  immediate  subject  of 
the  latter — for  who  would  not  smile  at  an  ounce  of  Truth,  or 
a  square  foot  of  Honor  ? — and  as  whatever  things  in  visible 
nature  have  the  character  of  Permanence,  and  endure  amid 
continual  flux  unchanged,  like  a  Rainbow  in  a  fast  flying  show- 
er, (ex.  gr.  Beauty,  Order,  Harmony,  Finality,  Law)  are  all 
akin  to  the  peculia  of  Humanity,  are  all  congeners  of  Mind  and 
Will,  without  which  indeed  they  would  not  only  exist  in  vain, 
as  Pictures  for  Moles,  but  actually  not  exist  at  all :  hence,  fi- 
nally, the  conclusion,  that  the  Soul  of  Man,  as  the  subject  of 
Mind  and  Will,  must  likewise  possess  a  principle  of  perma- 
nence, and  be  destined  to  endure  !  And  were  these  grounds 
lighter  than  they  are,  yet  as  a  small  weight  will  make  a 
Scale  descend,  where  there  is  nothing  in  the  opposite  Scale, 
or  painted  Weights,  that  have  only  an  illusive  relief  or  promi- 
nence ;  so  in  the  vScale  of  Immortality  slight  Reasons  are  in 
effect  weighty,  and  sufficient  to  determine  the  Judgment,  there 
being  no  counterweight,  no  reasons  against  them,  and  no  facts 
in  proof  of  the  contrary,  that  would  not  prov6  equally  well 
the  cessation  of  the  eye  on  the  removal  or  diffraction  of  the 
Eye-glass,  and  the  dissolution  or  incapacity  of  the  Musician  on 
the  fracture  of  his  instrument  or  its  strings. 

But  though  I  agree  with  Taylor  so  far,  as  not  to  doubt  that 
the  misallotment  of  worldly  goods  and  fortunes  was  one  prin- 
cipal occasion,  exciting  well-disposed  and  spiritually  awakened 
Natures  by  reflections  and  reasonings,  such  as  I  have  here 
supposed,  to  mature  the  presentiment  of  immortality  into  full 
consciousness,  into  a  principle  of  action  and  a  well-spring  of 
strength  and  consolation  ;  I  cannot  concede  to  this  circum- 
jsjtance  any  thing  like  the  importance  and  extent  of  efficacy 


214  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

V 

which  he  in  this  passage  attributes  to  it.     I  am  persuaded,  that 
as  the  belief  of  all  mankind,  of  all  [80)  tribes,  and  nations,  and 
languages,  in  all   ages  and  in  all  states  of  social  union,  it  must 
be  referred   to  far  deeper  grounds,  common  to  man  as  man : 
and  that  its  fibres  are  to  be  traced  to  the  tap-root  of  Humani- 
ty.    1  have  long  entertained,  and  do  not  hesitate  to  avow,  the 
conviction,  that  the  argument  from  Universality  of  Belief,  urg- 
ed by  Barrow  and  others  in  proof  of  the  first  Article  of  the 
Creed,  is  neither  in  point  of  fact — for  two  very  different  ob- 
jects may  be  intended,  and  two  (or  more)  diverse  and  even 
contradictory    conceptions   may  be   expressed,  by  the   same 
Name — nor  in  legitimacy  of  conclusion  as  strong  and  unexcep- 
tionable, as  the  argument  from  the  same  ground  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  our  personal  being  after  death.    The  Bull-calf  huts 
Avith  smooth  and  unarmed  Brow.     Throughout  animated  Na- 
ture, of  each  characteristic  Organ  and  Faculty  there  exists  a 
pre-assurance,  an  instinctive   and  practical  Anticipation :   and 
no  Pre-assurance  common  to  a  whole  species  does  in  any  in- 
stance prove  delusive.     All  other  prophecies  of  Nature  have 
their  exact  fulfilment — in  every  other  " ingrafted  word"   of 
Promise  Nature  is  found  true  to  her  Word,  and  is  it  in  her 
noblest  Creature,  that  she  tells  her  first  Lie? — (The  Reader 
will,  of  course,  understand,  that  I  am  here  speaking  in  the  as- 
sumed character  of  a   mere  Naturalist,  to    whom  no  light  of 
revelation  had  been  vouchsafed  :  one,  who 

with  gentle  heart 


Had  worsbipp'd  Nature  in  the  Hill  and  Valley, 
Not  knowing  what  he  loved,  but  loved  it  all !) , 

Whether,  however,  the  introductory  part  of  the  Bishop's  ar- 
gument is  to  be  leceived  with  more  or  less  qualification,  the 
Fact  itself,  as  stated  in  the  concluding  sentence  of  the  Apho- 
rism, remains  unaffected,  and  is  beyond  exception  true. 

If  other  argument  and  yet  higher  authority  were  required, 
I  might  refer  to  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  to  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  which  whether  written  by  Paul,  or, 
as  Luther  conjectured,  by  xipoUos,  is  out  of  all  doubt  the 
work  of  an  Apostolic  Man  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  com- 


ATHORISMS  ON   SPIRITUAL  RELIGION.  215 

posed  while  the  Temple  and  the  Glories  of  the  Temple  Wor- 
ship were  yet  in  existence.  Several  of  the  Jewish  and  still 
Judaizing  Converts  had  begun  to  vacillate  in  their  faith,  and 
to  "  stumble  at  the  stumbling-stone"  of  the  contrast  between 
the  pomp  and  splendor  of  the  Old  Law  and  the  simplicity  and 
humility  of  the  Christian  Church.  To  break  this  sensual 
charm,  to  unfascinate  these  bedazzled  brethren,  the  Writer  to 
the  Hebrews  institutes  a  comparison  between  the  two  reli- 
gions, and  demonstrates  the  superior  spiritual  grandeur,  the 
greater  intrinsic  worth  and  dignity  of  the  Religion  of  Christ. 
On  the  other  hand,  at  Rome  where  the  Jews  formed  a  numer- 
ous, powerful,  and  privileged  class  (many  of  them,  too,  by 
their  proselyting  zeal  and  frequent  disputations  with  the 
Priests  aud  Philosophers  trained  and  exercised  Polemics)  the 
recently-founded  Christian  Church,  was,  it  appears,  in  greater 
danger  from  the  reasonings  of  the  Jewish  Doctors  and  even  of 
its  own  Judaizing  Members,  respecting  the  use  of  the  new 
revelation.  Thus  the  object  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
was  to  prove  the  superiority  of  the  Christian  Religion  ;  the 
object  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  to  prove  its  necessity. 
Now  there  was  one  argument  extremely  Avell  calculated  to 
stagger  a  faith  newly  transplanted  and  still  loose  at  its  roots, 
and  which,  if  allowed,  seemed  to  preclude  the  possibility  of 
the  Christian  Religion,  as  an  especial  and  immediate  revela- 
tion from  God — on  the  high  grounds,  at  least,  on  w^hich  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  placed  it,  and  with  the  exclusive  rights 
and  superseding  character,  which  he  claimed  for  it.  You  ad- 
mit (said  they)  the  divine  origin  and  authority  of  the  Law 
given  to  Moses,  proclaimed  with  thunders  and  lightnings  and 
the  Voice  of  the  Most  High  heard  by  all  the  People  from 
Mount  Sinai,  and  introduced,  enforced,  and  perpetuated  by  a 
series  of  the  most  stupendous  miracles  !  Our  Religion  then 
was  given  by  God  :  and  can  God  give  a  perishable,  imperfect 
religion  ?  If  not  perishable,  how  can  it  have  a  successor  ? 
If  perfect,  how  can  it  need  to  be  superseded  ?  The  entire 
argument  is  indeed  comprised  in  the  latter  attribute  of  our 
Law.      We  know,  from  an  authority  which  you  jourselves 


2]G  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

acknowledge  for  divine,  that  our  Religion  is  perfect.  "  He 
is  the  Rock,  and  his  Work  is  perfect."  { Deuter.  xxxii.  4.) 
If  then  the  Religion  revealed  by  God  himself  to  our  Forefathers 
is  perfect^  what  need  have  we  of  another  ?  This  objection,  both 
from  its  importance,  and  from  its  (for  the  persons  at  least,  to 
whom  it  was  addressed)  extreme  plausibility,  behoved  to  be 
answered  in  both  epistles.  And  accordingly,  the  answer  is 
included  in  the  one  (Hebrews)  and  it  is  the  especial  purpose 
and  main  subject  of  the  other.  And  how  does  the  Apostle 
answer  it  ?  Suppose — and  the  case  is  not  impossible  [81] — a 
man  of  Sense,  who  had  studied  the  evidences  of  Priestly  and 
Paley  with  Warburton's  Divine  Legation,  but  who  should  be  a 
perfect  stranger  to  the  Writings  of  St.  Paul :  and  that  I  put 
this  question  to  him  : — what,  do  you  think,  will  St.  Paul's  an- 
swer be  ?  Nothing,  he  would  reply,  can  be  more  obvious.  It 
is  in  vain,  the  Apostle  will  urge,  that  you  bring  your  notions 
of  probability  and  inferences  from  the  arbitrary  interpretation 
of  a  word  in  an  absolute  rather  than  a  relative  sense,  to  inva- 
lidate a  knoAvn  fact.  It  is  a  fact^  that  your  Religion  is  (in 
your  sense  of  the  word)  not  perfect:  for  it  is  deficient  in  one 
of  the  two  essential  Constituents  of  all  true  Religion^  the  Be- 
lief of  a  Future  State  on  solid  and  sufficient  grounds.  Had 
the  doctrine  indeed  been  revealed,  the  stupendous  Miracles, 
which  you  most  truly  affirm  to  have  accompanied  and  attested 
the  first  promulgation  of  your  Religion,  would  have  supplied 
the  requisite  proof.  But  the  doctrine  was  not  revealed  :  and 
your  belief  of  a  future  state  rests  on  no  solid  grounds.  You 
believe  it  (as  far  as  you  believe  it,  and  as  many  of  you  as  pro- 
fess  this  belief)  without  revelation,  and  without  the  only  pro- 
per and  sufficient  evidence  of  its  truth.  Your  Religion,  there- 
fore, though  of  divine  Origin  is,  (if  taken  in  disjunction  from 
the  new  revelation,  which  I  am  commissioned  to  proclaim)  but 
a  Religio  f/imi(/ifl^a;  and  the  main  purpose,  the  proper  char- 
acter, and  the  paramount  object,  of  Christ's  Mission  and  Mi- 
racles, is  to  supply  the  missing  Half  by  a  clear  discovery  of  a 
future  state  ;  and  ( since  "  he  alone  discovers  ivho  proves^'' )  by 
proving  the  truth  of  the   doctrine,    now  for  the  first  time    de- 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  217 

dared  with  the  requisite  authority,  by  the  lequisite,  appropri- 
ate, and  alone  satisfactory  evidence. 

But  is  this  the  Apostle's  answer  to  the  Jewish  Oppugners, 
and  the  Judaizing  false  brethren,  of  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  It 
is  not  the  Answer,  it  does  not  resemble  the  Answer  returned 
by  the  Apostle.  It  is  neither  parallel  nor  corradial  with  the 
line  of  Argument  in  either  of  the  two  Epistles,  or  with  any 
one  line  ;  but  it  is  a  choi'd  that  traverses  them  all,  and  only 
touches  where  it  cuts  across.  In  the  Epist.  to  the  Hebrews 
the  direct  contrary  position  is  repeatedly  asserted :  and  in  the 
Epist.  to  the  Romans  it  is  every  where  siipjjosed.  The  death  to 
which  the  Law  sentenced  all  Sinners  (and  which  even  the  Gen- 
tiles without  the  revealed  Law  had  announced  to  them  by  their 
consciences,  "  the  judgment  of  God  having  been  made  known 
even  to  them")  must  be  the  same  death,  from  which  they  were 
saved  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  or  the  Apostle's  reaso- 
ning would  be  senseless,  his  antithesis  a  mere  equivoque,  a 
play  on  a  word,  quod  idem  sonat^  aliud  vult.  Christ  "redeem- 
ed mankind  from  the  curse  of  the  Law"  (  Galatians,  iii.  11 )  : 
and  we  all  know,  that  it  was  not  from  temporal  death,  or  the 
penalties  and  afflictions  of  the  present  life,  that  Believers  have 
been  redeemed.  The  Law,  of  v/hich  the  inspired  Sage  of 
Tarsus  is  speaking,  from  which  no  man  can  plead  excuse ;  the 
Law  miraculously  delivered  in  thunders  from  Mount  Sinai, 
which  was  inscribed  on  tables  of  stone  for  the  Jews,  and  writ- 
ten in  the  hearts  of  all  men  (Rom.  xi.  16) — the  Law  "holy 
and  spiritual  /"  what  was  the  great  point,  of  which  this  Law, 
in  its  own  name,  offered  no  solution  ?  the  mystery,  which  it 
left  behind  the  veil,  or  in  the  cloudy  tabernacle  of  types  and 
figurative  sacrifices  ?  Whether  there  was  a  Judgement  to  come 
and  Souls  to  suffer  the  dread  sentence  ?  Or  w^as  it  not  far  ra- 
ther— what  are  the  means  of  escape  ?  Where  may  Grace  be 
found,  and  Redemption  ?  St.  Pauls  says,  the  latter.  The 
Law  brings  condemnation :  but  the  conscience-sentenced 
Transgressor's  question.  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  Who 
will  intercede  for  me  ?  she  dismisses  as  beyond  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  her  Court,  and  takes   no  cognizance  thereof,  save  in 

28 


218  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

prophetic  murmurs  or  mute  out-shadowings  of  mystic  ordinan- 
ces and  sacrificial  types.  Not,  therefore,  that  there  is  a  Life 
to  come,  and  a  future  state  ;  but  what  each  individual  Soul 
may  hope  for  itself  therein  ;  and  on  what  grounds  ;  and  that 
this  state  has  been  rendered  an  object  of  aspiration  and  fer- 
vent desire,  and  a  source  of  thanksgiving  and  exceeding  great 
joy  :  and  by  whom,  and  through  whom,  and  for  whom,  and  by 
what  means  and  under  what  conditions — these  are  the  peculiar 
and  distingitishmg  fundamentals  of  the  Christian  Faith  !  These 
are  the  revealed  Lights  and  obtained  Privileges  of  the  Chris- 
tian Dispensation !  Not  alone  the  knoa\4edge  of  the  Boon,  but 
the  precious  inestimable  Boon  itself,  is  the  "Grace  and  Truth 
that  came  by  Jesus  Christ  !"  I  believe  Moses,  I  believe  Paul ; 
but   I  believe  in  Christ. 

APHORISM  LEIGHTON. 

ON    BAPTISM. 

"In  those  days  came  John  the  Baptist  preaching ^ — It  will 
suffice  for  our  present  purpose,  if  by  these  [82]  words  we  di- 
rect the  attention  to  the  origin,  or  at  least  first  Scriptural  Rec- 
ord, of  Baptism,  and  to  the  combinement  of  Preaching  there- 
with ;  their  aspect  each  to  the  other,  and  their  concurrence  to 
one  excellent  end  ;  the  Word  unfolding  the  Sacrament,  and 
the  Sacrament  sealing  the  Word  ;  the  Word  as  a  Light,  infor- 
ming and  clearing  the  sense  of  the  Seal,  and  this  again,  as  a 
S«al,  confirming  and  ratifying  the  truth  of  the  word :  as  you 
see  some  significant  Seals,  or  engraven  Signets,  have  a  word 
about  them  expressing  their  Sense. 

But  truly  the  Word  is  a  Light  and  the  Sacraments  have  in 
them  of  the  same  Light  illuminating  them.  This  (sacrament) 
of  Baptism,  the  Ancients  do  particularly  express  by  Light. 
Yet  are  they  both  nothing  but  darkness  to  us,  till  the  same  light 
shine  in  our  Hearts ;  for  till  then  we  are  nothing  but  darkness 
ourselves,  and  therefore  the  most  luminous  things  are  so  to  us. 
Noonday  is  as  midnight  to  a  blind  man.  And  we  see  these 
ordinances,  the  word  and  the  sacrament,  without  profit  orcom- 


A 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  219 

fort   for  the  most   part,  because  we  have  not  of  that  Divine 
Light  within  us.r^  And  we  have  it  not,  because  we  ask  it  not. 


A  born  and  bred  Baptist,  and  paternally  descended  from  the 
old  orthodox  Non-conformists,  and  l>oth  in  his  own  and  in  his 
father's  right  a  veiy  dear  friend  of  mine,  had  married  a  Mem- 
ber of  the  National  Church.  In  con^quence  of  an  anxious 
wish  expressed  by  his  Lady  for  the  baptism  of  their  first  child, 
he  solicited  me  to  put  him  in  possession  of  my  views  respec- 
ting this  .controversy  :  though  principally  as  to  the  decree  of 
importance  which  I  attached  to  it.  For  as  to  the  point  itself, 
his  natural  pre-possession  in  favor  of  the  Persuasion,  in  which 
he  was  born,  had  been  confirmed  by  a  conscientious  examina- 
tion of  tlie  Arguments  on  both  sides.  As  the  Comment  os 
the  preceding  Aphorism,  or  rather  as  an  expansion  of  its  sub- 
ject-matter, I  will  give  the  substance  of  the  conversation  :  aiid 
amply  shaU  I  have  been  remunerated,  should  it  be  read  with 
the  interest  and  satisfaction  with  which  it  was  heard.  More 
particularly,  should  any  of  my  Readers  find  tliemselves  under 
the  same  or  similar  Circumstances. 


COMMENT 


Or  Aid  to  Reflection  in  the  forming  of  a  sound  Judgement 
respecting  the  purport  and  purpose  of  the  Baptismal  Rite^ 
and  a  just  apprecialion  of  its  value  and  importance. 
Our  discussion  is    rendered  shorter  and  more   easy   by  our 
perfect  agreement   in    certain   preliminary  points.     We  both 
disclaim  alike  every  attempt    to  explain  any  thing  into  Scrip- 
ture, and  every  attempt  to  explain  any  thing  out  of  Scripture. 
Or  if  we  regard  either  with  a  livelier  aversion,  it  is  the  latter 
2ts  being   the   more  fashionable    and   prevalent.     I  mean  the 
practice  of  both  high  and  low  Grotian  Divines  to  explain  away 
positive  assertions  of  Scripture  on  the  pretext  ,  that  the  literal 
soise  is  not  agreeable  io  Reason,  that  is,  tujlib. particular  Rea- 


^20  AIDS  TO   REFLECTIOK-. 

son.     x\nd  inasmuch  as  (in  the  only  right  sense  of  the  word) 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  particular  Reason,  they  must,  and 
in  fact  they  do  mean,  that  the  literal  sense  is  not  accordant  to 
their  Understanding ^  i,  e.  to  the  Notions  which  their  Under- 
standings have  been   taught    and  accustomed    to  form  in  their 
school  of  Philosophy.     Thus  a  Platonist,  who  should  become 
a  Christian,  would  at  once,  even  in  texts   susceptible  of  a  dif- 
ferent interpretation,  recognize,   because  he  would  expect    to 
find,  several  doctrines  which  the  disciple  of  the  Epicurean  or 
Mechanic  School  will  not  receive  on  the  most  positive  decla- 
rations of  the  Divine  Word.     And  as  we  agree  in  the  opinion, 
that  the  Minimi-Jidian  Party  (p.  136)  err  grievously  in  the 
latter  point,  so  I  must  concede  to  you,  that  too  many  Psedo- 
baptists  (Assertors  of  Infant  Baptism)  have  erred,  though  less 
grossly,  in  the  former.      1  have,  I  confess,  no  eye  for  these 
smoke-like  Wieaths  of  Inference,  this  ever-widening  spiral 
Ergo  from  the  narrow  aperture  of  perhaps  a  single  Text :  or 
rather  an  interpretation  forced  into  it  by  construing  an   idio- 
matic phrase  in  an  artless  Narrative  with  the   same  absolute- 
ness, as  if  it  had  formed  part  of  a  mathematical  problem !     I 
start  back  from  these  inverted  Pyramids,  where  the   apex  is 
the  base !     If  I  should  inform  any  one   that  I  had  called  at  a 
friend's  house,  but  had  found  nobody  at  home,  the   Family 
having  all  gone  to  the  play ;  and  if  he,  on  the  strength  of  this 
information,  should  take  occasion  to   asperse  my  friend's  wife 
for  unmotherly  conduct  in  taking  an  infant,  six  months  old,  to 
a  crowded  theatre ;    would   you  allow  him  to  press  on   the 
words,  nobody  and  all  the  family,  in  justification  of  the  slander  ? 
Would  you  not  tell  him,[that  the  words  were  to  be  interpreted 
by  the  nature  of  the  subject,  the  purpose  of  the  speaker,  and 
their  ordinary  acceptation  ?     And  that  he  must  or  might  have 
known,  that  Infants  of  that  age  would  not  be  admitted  into  the 
Theatre  ?     Exactly  so,  with  regard  to  the  words,  "  he  and  all 
his  Household."     Had  Baptism  of  Infants  at  that  early  period 
of  the  Gospel  been  a  known  practice,  or  had  this  been  previ- 
ously demonstrated, — then  indeed  the  argument,  that  in  all 
probability  there  was  one  or  more  infants  or  young  children  iu 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  221 

SO  large  a  family,  would  be  no  otherwise  objectionable  than  as 
being  superfluous,  and  a  sort  of  anticlimax  in  Logic.  But  if 
the  words  are  cited  as  the  proof,  it  would  be  a  clear  petitio 
principii^  though  there  had  been  nothing  else  against  it.  But 
when  we  turn  back  to  the  Scriptures  preceding  the  narrative, 
and  find  Repentance  and  Belief  demanded  as  the  terms  and  in- 
dispensable Conditions  of  Baptism — then  the  case  above  ima- 
gined applies  in  its  full  force.  Equally  vain  is  the  pretended 
analogy  from  circumcision,  which  was  no  sacrament  at  all;  but 
the  means  and  mark  of  national  distinction.  In  the  first  in- 
stance it  was,  doubtless  a  privilege  or  mark  of  superior  rank 
conferred  on  the  Descendants  of  Abraham.  In  the  patriarchal 
times  this  rite  was  confined  (the  first  Governments  being  The- 
ocracies) to  the  Priesthood,  who  were  set  apart  to  that  office 
from  their  Birth.  At  a  later  period  this  Token  of  the  premier 
class  was  extended  to  Kings.  And  thus,  when  it  was  re-or- 
dained by  Moses  for  the  whole  Jewish  Nation,  it  was  at  the 
same  time  said — Ye  are  all  Priests  and  Kings — Ye  are  a  con- 
secrated People.  In  addition  to  this,  or  rather  in  aid  of  this, 
Circumcision  was  intended  to  distinguish  the  Jews  by  some  in- 
delible sign  :  and  it  was  no  less  necessary  that  Jewish  chil- 
dren should  be  recognizable  as  Jews,  than  Jewish  adults — not 
to  mention  the  greater  safety  of  the  rite  in  infancy.  Nor  was 
it  ever  pretended  that  any  Grace  was  conferred  with  it,  or  that 
the  Rite  was  significant  of  any  inward  or  spiritual  Operation. 
In  short,  an  unprejudiced  and  competent  Reader  need  only  pe- 
ruse the  first  33  Paragraphs  of  the  18th  Section  of  Taylor's 
Liberty  of  Prophesying  ;  and  then  compare  with  these  the  re- 
mainder of  the  Section  added  by  him  after  the  Restoration : 
those,  namely,  in  which  he  attempts  to  overthrow  his  own  ar- 
guments. I  had  almost  said,  affects :  for  such  is  the  feeble- 
ness, and  so  palpable  the  sophistry,  of  his  Answers,  that  I  find 
it  difficult  to  imagine,  that  Taylor  himself  could  have  been  sat- 
isfied with  them.  The  only  plausible  arguments  apply  with 
equal  force  to  Baptist  and  Paedo-baptist ;  and  would  prove,  if 
they  proved  any  thing,  that  both  were  wrong,  and  the  Qua- 
kers only  in  the  right. 


222  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Now,  in  the  fiist  place,  it  is  obvious,  that  nothing  conclusive 
c  m  be  drawn  from  the  silence  of  the  New  Testament  respect- 
ing a  practice,  which,  supposing  it  already  in  use,  must  yet 
from  the  character  of  the  first  Converts,  have  been  of  compara- 
tively rare  occurrence ;  and  which  from  the  predominant,  and 
more   concerning.    Objects   and    Functions   of   tlie   Apostolic 
Writers  (1  Corinth,  i.  17)  was  not  likely  to  have  been  men- 
tioned otherwise  than  incidentally,  and  very  probably  therefore 
might  not  have  occurred  to  them  to  mention  at  all.     But,  sec- 
ondly, admitting  that  the  practice  was  introduced  at  a  later  pe- 
riod than  that  in  which  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Epis- 
tles were  composed:  I  should  yet  be  fully  satisfied,  that  the 
Church  exercised  herein  a  sound  [83]  discretion.     On  either 
supposition,  therefore,  it  is  never  without  regret  that  I  see  a 
Divine  of  our  Church  attempting  to  erect  forts  on  a  position  so 
evidently  commanded  by  the  strong-hold  of  his  Antagonists. 
I  dread  the  use  which  the  Socinians  may  make  of  their  exam- 
ple, and  the  Papists  of  their  failure.     Let  me  not,  however, 
deceive  you.     [The  Reader  understands^  that  I  suppose  n^y- 
self  conversing  with  a  Baptist. )     I  am  of  opinion,  that  the  Di- 
vines on  your  side  are  chargeable  with  a  far  more  grievous 
mistake,  that  of  giving  a  carnal  and  Judaizing  interpretation 
to  the  various  Gospel  Texts  in  which  the  terms,  baptism  and 
baptize,  occur,  contrary  to  the  express  and  earnest  admoni- 
tions of  the  iVpostle  Paul.     And  this  I  say  without  in  the  least 
retracting  my  former  concession,  that  the  Texts  appealed  to, 
as  commanding  or  authorizing  Infant  Baptism,  are  all  without 
exception  made  to  bear  a  sense  neither  contained  nor  deduci- 
ble:  and  likewise  that ( historically  considered)  there  exists  no 
sufficient  positive  evidence,  that  the  Baptism  of  Infants  was 
instituted   by  the    Apostles  in  the  practice  of  the  Apostolic 
Age  [84]. 

Lastly,  we  both  co-incide  in  the  full  conviction,  that  it  is  nei- 
ther the  outward  ceremony  of  Baptism,  under  any  form  or 
circumstance,  nor  any  other  ceremony;  but  such  a  faith  in 
Christ  as  tends  to  produce  a  conformity  to  his  holy  doctrines 
and  example  in  heart  and  life,  and  which  fiiith  is  itself  a  de* 


APHORISMS  ON  SPIRITUAL  RELIGION.  223 

dared  mean  and  condition  of  our  partaking  of  his  spiritual 
Body,  and  of  being  "  clothed  upon"  with  his  righteousness ; 
that  properly  makes  us  Christians,  and  can  alone  be  enjoined 
as  an  Article  of  Faith  necessary  to  Salvation,  so  that  the  deni- 
al thereof  may  be  denounced  as  "a  damnable  heresy."  In 
the  strictest  sense  of  essential,  this  alone  is  the  essential  in 
Christianity,  that  the  same  spirit  should  be  growing  in  us  which 
was  in  the  fullness  of  all  perfection  in  Christ  Jesus.  What- 
ever else  is  named  essential  is  such  because,  and  only  as  far 
as,  it  is  instrumental  to  this  or  evidently  implied  herein.  If 
the  Baptists  hold  the  visible  Rite  indispensable  to  Salvation, 
Avith  what  terror  must  they  not  regard  every  disease  that  befel 
their  children  between  Youth  and  Infancy!  But  if  they  are 
saved  by  the  faith  of  the  Parent,  then  the  outward  rite  is  not 
essential  to  Salvation,  otherwise  than  as  the  omission  should 
arise  from  a  spirit  of  disobedience:  and  in  this  case.it  is  the 
cause,  not  the  effect,  the  wilful. and  unbaptized  Heart,  not  the 
unbaptizing  Hand,  that  perils  it.  And  surely  it  looks  very 
like  an  inconsistency  to  admit  the  vicarious  faith  of  the  Pa- 
rents and  the  therein  implied  promise,  that  the  child  shall  be 
christianly  bred  up,  and  as  much  as  in  them  lies  prepared  for 
the  communion  of  saints — to  admit  this,  as  safe  and  sufficient 
in  their  own  instance,  and  yet  to  denounce  the  same  belief 
and  practice  as  hazardous  and  unavailing  in  the  Established 
Church — the  same,  I  say,  essentially,  and  only  differing  from 
their  own  by  the  presence  of  two  or  three  Christian  Friends 
as  additional  Securities,  and  by  the  promise  being  expressed  ! 
But  you,  my  filial  Friend!  have  studied  Christ  under  a  bet- 
ter Teacher — the  Spirit  of  Adoption,  even  the  spirit  that  was 
in  Paul,  and  v/hich  still  speaks  to  us  out  of  his  writings.  You 
remember  and  admire  the  saying  of  an  old  Divine,  that  a  cere- 
mony duly  instituted  was  a  Chain  of  Gold  around  the  Neck  of 
Faith ;  but  if  in  the  wish  to  make  it  co-essential  and  consub- 
stantial,  you  draw  it  closer  and  closer,  it  may  strangle  the 
Faith,  it  was  meant  to  deck  and  designate.  You  are  not  so 
unretentive  a  Scholar  as  to  have  forgotten  the  "pateris  et  au- 
10 "  of  your  Virgil:  or  if  you  were,  you  are  not  so  inconsis- 


224  AIDS    TO    EEFLECTIOJV. 

tent  a  reasoner,  as  to  translate  the  Hebraism,  Spirit  and  Fire, 
in  one  place  by  spiritual  fire,  and  yet  refuse  to  translate  Water 
and  Spirit  by  Spiritual  Water  in  another  place :  or  if,  as  I  my- 
self think,  the  different  position  marks  a  different  sense,  yet 
that  the  former  must  be  ejusdem  generis  with  the  latter — the 
Water  of  Repentance,  reformation  in  con Jt/c^;  and  the  Spirit 
that  which  purifies  the  inmost  jjrinciple  of  action,  as  Fire  pur- 
ges the  metal  substantially  and  not  cleansing  the  surface  only ! 
(See  Aph.  xxiii.  p.  9—10.) 

But  in  this  instance,  it  will  be  said,  the  ceremony,  the  out- 
ward and  visible  sign,  is  a  Scripture  Ordinance.  I  will  not 
reply,  that  the  Romish  Priest  says  the  same  of  the  anointing 
the  sick  with  oil  and  the  imposition  of  hands.  No !  my  an- 
swer is :  that  this  is  a  very  sufficient  reason  for  the  contin- 
ued observance  of  a  cermonial  Rite  so  derived  and  sanction- 
ed, even  though  its  own  beauty,  simplicity,  and  natural  signifi- 
cancy  had  pleaded  less  strongly  in  its  behalf!  But  it  is  no 
reason  why  the  Church  should  forget,  that  the  perpetuation 
of  a  thing  does  not  alter  the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  that  a 
ceremony  to  be  perpetuated  is  to  be  perpetuated  as  a  cere- 
mony.  It  is  no  reaon  why,  knowing  and  experiencing  even 
in  the  majority  of  her  own  Members  the  proneness  of  the  hu- 
man mind  to [85]  Superstition,  the  Church  might  not  rightfully 
and  piously  adopt  the  measures  best  calculated  to  check  this 
tendency,  and  correct  the  abuse,  to  which  it  had  led  in  any 
particular  Rite.  But  of  superstitious  notions  respecting  the 
baptismal  ceremony  and  of  abuse  resulting,  the  instances  were 
flagrant  and  notorious.  Such,  for  instance,  was  the  frequent 
deferring  of  the  baptismal  rite  to  a  late  period  of  Life,  and 
even  to  the  death-bed,  in  the  belief  that  the  mystic  water 
would  cleanse  the  baptized  person  from  all  sin  and  ( if  he  died 
immediately  after  the  performance  of  the  ceremony )  send  him 
pure  and  spotless  into  the  other  World. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  preventive  remedy  applied  by  the 
church  is  legitimated  as  well  as  additionally  recommended  by 
the  following  consideration.  V\^here  a  ceremony  answered  and 
was  intended   to  answer  several  purposes,  which  purposes  at 


APHORISMS  ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  225' 

its  first  institution  were  blended  in  respect  of  the  time^  but 
which  afterwards  by  cliange  of  circumstances  (as  when,  for 
instance,  a  large  and  ever-increasing  proportion  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church,  or  those  who  at  least  bore  the  Christian 
name,  were  of  Christian  Parents)  were  necessarily  disunited- — 
then  either  the  Church  has  no  power  or  authority  delegated  to 
her  (which  is  shifting  the  groundof  controversy)— or  she  must 
be  authorized  to  choose  and  determine,  to  which  of  the  several 
purposes  the  ceremony  should  be  attached.  Now  one  of  the 
purposes  of  Baptism  was — the  making  it  publicly  manifest, 
first,  what  Individuals  were  to  be  regarded  by  the  Woiid 
(Phil.  ii.  15)  as  belonging  to  the  visible*  Community  of  Christ- 
ians :  inasmuch  as  by  their  demeanour  and  apparent  condition 
the  general  estimation  of  "  the  City  set  on  a  hill  and  not  to  be 
hid"  (Math,  v.  14)  could  not  be  affected — the  City  that  even 
"  in  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  nation"  was  bound 
not  only  to  give  no  cause,  but  by  all  innocent  means  to  pre- 
vent every  occasion,  of  "  Rebuke."  Secondly,  to  mark  out 
those  that  were  entitled  to  that  especial  Dearness ;  that  watch- 
ful and  disciplinary  Love  and  Loving-kindness ;  which  over 
and  above  the  affections  and  duties  of  Philanthropy  and  Uni- 
versal Charity,  Christ  himself  had  enjoined,  and  with  an  em- 
phasis and  in  a  form  significant  of  its  great  and  especial  impor- 
tance. A  New  Commandment  I  give  unto  you,  that  ye  love 
one  another.  By  the  former  the  Body  of  Christians  was  to  be 
placed  in  contrast  with  the  notorious  misanthropy  and  bigotry 
of  the  Jewish  Church  and  People :  and  thus  without  draw-back, 
and  precluding  the  objection  so  commonly  made  to  Sectarian 
Benevolence,  to  be  distinguished  and  known  to  all  men  by 
their  fervid  fulfilment  of  the  latter.  How  kind  these  Christ- 
ians are  to  the  poor  and  afflicted,  w-ithout  distinction  of  re- 
ligion or  country  !  But  how  they  love  each  other! 

Now  combine  with  this  the  consideration  before  urged — the 
duty,  I  mean  and  necessity  of  checking  the  superstitious  abuse 
of  the  baptismal  rite  :  and  I  then  ask,  with  confidence,  in  what 
way  could  the  Church  have  exercised  a  sound  discretion  more 
wisely,  piously,  or  effectively,  than  by  affixing,  from  among 

29 


226  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

the  several  ends  and  purposes  of  Baptism,  the  outward  cere- 
mony to  the  purposes  here  mentioned  ?  How  could  the  great 
Body  of  Christians  be  more  plainly  instructed  as  to  the  true 
nature  of  all  outward  ordinances  ?  What  can  be  conceived  bet- 
ter calculated  to  prevent  the  ceremony  from  being  regarded  as 
other  and  more  than  a  ceremony,  if  not  the  administration  of 
the  same    on  an  object^  (yea,  a  dear  and  precious  o&/ec/)  of 
spiritual  duties,  but  a  subject  oi  spiritual  operations  and  graces 
only  by  anticipation  and  in  hope  ; — a  subject,  unconscious  as  a 
Flower  of  the  dew  falling  on  it  or  the  early  rain,  and  thus  em- 
blematic of  the  myriads  who  ( as  in  our  Indian  Empire,  and 
henceforward,  we  trust,  in  Africa)   are  temporally  and  even 
morally  benefited  by  the  outward  existence  of  Christianity, 
though  as  yet  ignorant  of  its  saving  truth  !  And  yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  what  more  reverential  than  the  application  of  this, 
the  common  initiatory  rite  of  the  East  sanctioned  and  appropri- 
ated by  Christ — its  application,  I  say,  to  the  very  subjects, 
whom  he  himself  commanded  to  be  brought  to  him — the  chil- 
dren in  arms^  respecting  whom  "  Jesus  was  much  displeased 
with  his  disciples,  who  had  rebuked  those  that  brought  them  !" 
What  more  expressive  of  the  true  character  of  that  originant 
and  generic  Stain,  fixDm  which  the  Son  of  God,  by  his  myste- 
rious incarnation  and  agony  and  death  and  resurrection,   and 
by  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  came  to  cleanse  the  Children  of 
Adam,  than  the  exhibition  of  the  outward  element  to  Infants 
free  from  and  incapable  of  crimCy  in  whom  the   evil  principle 
was  present  only  as  jpotential  being,  and  whose  outward  sem- 
blance represented  tlie  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ?  And  can  it — to 
a  man,  who  would  hold  himself  deserving  of  Anathema  Maran- 
alha  (1  Cor.xvi.  22,)  if  he  did  not  "  love  the  Lord  Jesus" — 
can  it  be  nothing  to  such  a  man,  that  the  introduction  and  com- 
mendation of  a  new  Inmate,  a  new  spiritual  Ward,  to  the  as- 
sembled Brethren  in  Christ  ( — and  this,  as  I  have  shown  above, 
was  one  purpose  of  the  baptismal  Ceremony)  does  in  the  bap- 
tism of  an  Infant  recall  our  Lord's  own  presentation  in  the 
temple  on  the  eighth  day  after  his  birth  ?  Add  to  all  these  con- 
siderations the  known  fact  of  the  frequent  exposure  and  the 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIUION.  2H 

general  light  regard  of  Infants,  at  the  time  when  Infant  Bap- 
tism is  by  the  Baptists  supj^osed  to  have  been  first  7'uled  bjr 
the  Catholic  Church,  not  overlooking  the  humane  and  charita- 
ble motives,  that  influenced  Cyprian's  decision  in  its  favor! 
And  then  make  present  to  your  imagination,  and  meditatively 
contemplate  the  still  continuing  tendency,  the  profitable,  the 
beautiful  effects,  of  this  ordinance  noiv  and  for  so  many  cen- 
turies back  on  the  great  Mass  of  the  Pqpulation  throughout 
Christendom — the  softening,  elevating  exercise  of  Faith  and 
the  Conquest  over  the  senses,  while  in  the  form  of  a  helpless 
crying  Babe  the  Presence,  and  the  unutterable  Worth  and  Val- 
ue, of  an  immortal  Being  made  capable  of  everlasting  bliss  are 
solemnly  proclaimed  and  carried  home  to  the  mind  and. heart 
of  the  Hearers  and  Beholders  !  Ner  will  you  forget  the  proba- 
ble influence  on  the  future  education  of  the  Child,  the  oppor- 
tunity of  instructing  and  impressing  the  friends,  relatives,  and 
parents  in  their  best  and  most  docile  mood  !  These  are  indeed, 
the  mollia  tempora  fandi. 

It  is  true,  that  by  an  unforeseen  accident,  and  through  the 
propensity  of  all  Zealots  to  caricature  partial  truth  into  total 
falsehood — it  is  too  true,  that  a  Tree  the  very  contrary  in  quali- 
ty of  that  shown  to  Moses  (Exod.  xv.  25)  was  afterwards 
"  cast  into  the  sweet  waters  from  this  fountain,"  and  made 
them  like  "  the  waters  of  Marah,"  too  bitter  to  be  drunk.  ,1 
allude  to  the  Pelagian  Controversy,  the  perversion  of  the  Ar- 
ticle of  Original  Sin  by  Augustine,  and  the  frightful  con-elusions 
which  this  durus  pater  wfantuni  drew  from  the  Article  tJius 
perverted.  It  is  not,  however,  to  the  predecessors  of  this 
African,  whoever  they  were  that  authorized  Paedo-baptism, 
and  at  whatever  period  it  first  became  general— it  is  not  to  the 
Church  at  the  time  being,  that  these  consequences  are  justly 
imputable.  She  had  done  her  best  to  preclude  every  super- 
stition, by  allowing  in  urgent  cases  any  and  every  Adult,  Man 
and  Woman,  to  administer  the  ceremonial  part,  the  outward 
rite,  of  baptism  ;  but  reserving  to  the  highest  Functionary  of 
the  Church  (even  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Co-presbyters)  the 
most  proper  and  spiritual  purpose,  viz.  the  declaration  of  Repen- 


228  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

tance  and  Belief,  the  free  Choice  of  Christ,  as  his  Lord,  and 
the  open  profession  of  the  Christian  Title  by  an  individual  in 
his  own  name  and  by  his  own  deliberate  act.  The  admission, 
and  public  reception  of  the  Believer  into  the  name  of  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost — this  office  of  Religion, 
the  essentially  moral  and  spiritual  nature  of  which  could  not 
be  mistaken,  this  most  solemn  office  the  Bishop  alone  was  to 
perform.  Thus — as  soon  as  the  purposes  of  the  ceremonial 
Rite  were  by  change  of  circumstance  divided,  that  is,  took 
place  at  diffijrent  periods  of  the  Believer's  Life — to  the  out- 
ward purposes,  where  the  eifect  was  to  be  produced  on  the 
minds  'of  others,  the  Church  continued  to  affix  the  outward 
rite  ;  while  to  the  substantial  and  spiritual  purpose,  where  the 
effect  was  to  be  produced  on  the  Individual's  own  mind,  she 
gave  its  beseeming  dignity  by  an  ordinance  not  figurative,  but 
standing  in  the  direct  cause  and  relation  of  means  to  the  end. 

In  fine,  there  are  two  great  Purposes  to  be  answered,  each 
having  its  own  subordinate  purposes,  and  desirable  consequen- 
ces. The  Church  answers  both,  the  Baptists  one  only.  If, 
nevertheless,  you  would  still  prefer  the  union  of  the  baptismal 
rite  with  the  Confirmation,  and  the  Presentation  of  Infants  to 
the  assembled  Church  had  formed  a  separate  institution,  avow- 
edly prospective — I  answer  :  first,  that  such  for  a  long  time 
and  to  a  late  period  was  my  own  Judgment.  But  even  then  it 
seemed  to  me  a  point,  as  to  which  an  indifference  would  be 
less  inconsistent  in  a  lover  of  Truth,  than  a  zeal  to  separation 
in  a  professed  lover  of  Peace.  And  secondly,  I  would  revert 
to  the  History  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  calamitous  accident 
of  the  Peasant's  War  :  when  the  poor  ignorant  multitude, 
driven  frantic  by  the  intolerable  oppressions  of  their  feudal 
Lords,  rehearsed  all  the  outrages  that  were  acted  in  our  own 
times  by  the  Parisian  Populace  headed  by  Danton,  Marat,  and 
Robespierre  ;  and  on  the  same  outrageous  Principles,  and  in 
assertion  of  the  same  Rights  of  Brutes  to  the  subversion  of 
all  the  Duties  of  Men.  In  our  times,  most  fortunately  for 
the  interests  of  Religion  and  Morality,  or  of  their  prudential 
Substitutes  at  least,  the  Name  of  Jacobin  was  every  where 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    BELI(/ION.  229 

associated  with  that  of  Atheist  and  Infidel.  Or  rather,  Jaco- 
binism and  Infidelity  where  the  two  Heads  of  the  Revolution- 
ary Geryon — connatural  misgrowths  of  the  same  Monster- 
trunk.  In  the  German  Convulsion,  on  the  contrary,  by  a  mere 
but  most  unfortunate  accident^  the  same  Code  of  Caliban  Juris- 
prudence, the  same  sensual  and  murderous  Excesses,  were 
connected  with  the  name  of  Anabaptist.  The  Abolition  of 
Magistracy,  Community  of  Goods,  the  Right  of  Plunder, 
Polygamy,  and  whatever  else  was  fanatical,  were  comprised 
in  the  word,  Anabaptism  1  It  is  not  to  be  imagined,  that  the 
Fathers  of  the  Reformation  could,  without  a  miraculous  influ- 
ence, have  taken  up  the  question  of  Infant  Baptism  with  the 
requisite  calmness  and  freedom  of  Spirit.  It  is  not  to  be 
wished,  that  they  should  have  entered  on  the  discussion.  Nay, 
I  will  go  farther.  Unless  the  Abolition  of  Infant  Baptism  can 
be  shown  to  be  involved  in  some  fundamental  article  of  Faith, 
unless  the  Practice  could  be  proved  fatal  or  imminently  peril- 
ous to  Salvation,  the  Reformers  would  not  have  been  justified 
in  exposing  the  yet  tender  and  struggling  cause  of  Protestantism 
to  such  certain  and  violent  prejudices  as  this  Innovation  would 
have  excited.  Nothing  less  than  the  whole  substance  and 
efficacy  of  the  Gospel  Faith  was  the  prize,  which  they  had 
wrestled  for  and  won  ;  but  won  from  enemies  still  in  the  field, 
and  on  the  watch  to  re-take,  at  all  costs,  the  sacred  Treasure, 
and  consign  it  once  again  to  darkness  and  oblivion.  If  there 
be  a  time  for  all  things,  this  was  not  the  time  for  an  innovation, 
that  would  and  must  have  been  followed  by  the  triumph  of  the 
enemies  of  scriptural  Christianity,  and  the  alienation  of  the 
Governments,  that  had  espoused  and  protected  it. 

Remember,  I  say  this  on  the  supposition  of  the  question's 
not  being  what  you  do  not  pretend  it  to  be,  an  Essential  of 
the  Faith,  by  which  we  are  saved.  But  should  it  likewise  be 
conceded,  that  it  is  a  disputable  point — and  that  in  point  of 
fact  it  is  and  has  been  disputed  by  Divines,  whom  no  pious 
Protestant  of  any  denomination  will  deny  to  have  been  faith- 
ful and  eminent  servants  of  Christ — should  it,  I  say,  be  like- 
wise conceded  that  the  question  of  Infant  Baptism  is  a  point, 


230 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


on  which  two  Christians,  w^ho  perhaps  differ  on  this  point  only, 
may  differ  without  giving  just  ground  for  impeaching  the  piety 
or  competence  of  either— in  this  case  I  am  obliged  to  infer, 
that  the  Person  who  at  any  time  can  regard  this  difference  as 
singly  warranting  a  separation  from  a  religious  Community, 
must  think  of  Schism  under  another  point  of  View,  than  I  have 
been  taught  to  contemplate  it  by  St.  Paul  in  his  epistles  to  the 
Corinthians. 

Let  me  add  a  few  words  on  a  diversity  of  doctrine  closely 
connected  with  this  :  the  opinions  of  Doctors  Mant  and  D'Oy- 
ley  as  opposed  to  those  of  the  ( so  called )  Evangelical  Clergy. 
"  The  Church  of  England  (says  Wall,  [86]  )  does  not  require 
assent  and  consent"  to  either  opinion  "  in  order  to  lay  com- 
munion." But  I  will  suppose  the  person  a  Minister;  but 
Minister  of  a  Church  which  has  expressly  disclaimed  all  pre- 
tence to  infallibity,  a  Church  which  in  the  construction  of  its 
liturgy  and  articles  is  known  to  have  worded  certain  passages 
for  the  purpose  of  rendering  them  subscribable  by  both  A  and 
Z — i.  e.  the  opposite  parties  as  to  the  points  in  controversy. 
I  suppose  this  person's  convictions  those  of  Z,  and  that  out  of 
five  passages  there  are  three,  the  more  natural  and  obvious 
sense  of  which  is  in  his  favor  ;  and  two,  of  which  though  not 
ahsoluteiy  jrreckiding  a  different  sense,  yet  the  more  probable 
interpretation  is  in  favor  of  A  i.  e.  of  those  who  do  not  con- 
sider the  Baptism  of  an  Infant  as  prospective^  but  hold  it  to  be 
an  Opus  Operans  et  in  prccsenti.  Then  I  say,  that  if  such  a 
person  regards  these  two  sentences  or  single  passages  as  obli- 
ging or  warranting  him  to  abandon  the  Flock  entrusted  to  his 
charge,  and  either  to  join  such,  as  are  the  avowed  Enemies  of 
the  Church  on  the  double  ground  of  its  particular  Constitution 
and  of  its  being  an  Establishment,  or  to  set  up  a  separate 
Church  for  himself — I  cannot  avoid  the  conclusion,  that  either 
his  Conscience  is  morbidly  sensitive  in  one  speck  to  the  ex- 
haustion of  the  sensibility  in  a  far  larger  portion  ;  or  that  he 
must  have  discovered  some  mode,  beyond  the  reach  of  my 
conjectural  powers,  of  interpreting  the  scriptures  enumerated 
m  the  following  Excerpt  from  the  popubr  Tract  before  cited, 


APHORISMS    ON    SPIRITUAL    RELIGION.  231 

in  which  the  writer  expresses  an  opinion,  to  which  I  assent 
witli  my  whole  heart :  viz. 

"  That  all  Christians  in  the  world  that  hold  the  same  funda- 
mentals ought  to  make  one  church,  thoagh  differing  in  lesser 
opinions ;  and  that  the  sin,  the  mischief,  and  danger  to  the 
souls  of  men,  that  divide  into  those  many  sects  and  parties 
among  us,  does  (for  the  most  of  them)  consist  not  so  much  in 
the  opinions  themselves,  as  in  their  dividing  and  separating 
for  them.  And  in  support  of  this  tenet,  I  will  refer  you  to 
some  plain  places  of  Scripture,  which  if  you  please  now  to 
peruse,  I  will  be  silent  the  while.  See  what  our  Saviour  him- 
self says,  Johnx.  16.  John  xvii.  11.  And  what  the  primitive 
Christians  practised,  Acts  ii.  46,  and  iv.  32.  And  what  St. 
Paul  says  1  Cor.  i.  10,  11,  12,  and  iii.  2,  3,  4,  also  the  whole 
12th  chapter  :  Eph.  ii.  18,  &c.  to  the  end.  Where  the  Jewish 
and  Gentile  Christians  are  showed  to  be  one  hody^one  household^ 
one  temple  fitly  framed  together :  and  yet  these  were  of  differ- 
ent opinions  in  several  matters.  Likewise  chap.  iii.  6,  iv.  1. 
to  13,  Phil.  ii.  1,  2.  where  he  uses  the  most  solemn  adjurations 
to  this  purpose.  But  I  would  more  especially  recommend  to 
you  the  reading  of  Gal.  v.  20,  21,  Phil.  iii.  15,  16.  The  14th 
chapter  to  the  Romans,  and  part  of  the  15th,  to  ver.  7,  and 
also  Rom.  xvi.  17. 

Are  not  these  passages  plain,  full,  and  earnest  ?  Do  you 
find  any  of  the  controverted  points  to  be  determined  by  Scrip- 
ture in  words  nigh  so  plain  or  pathetic  ? 


MARGINAL  NOTE  WRITTEN  (iN  1816)  BY  THE    EDITOR  IN  HIS  OWN  COPY  OF 

wall's    WORK. 

This  and  the  two  following  pages  are  excellent.  If  I  addressed  the  min- 
isters recently  seceded,  I  would  first  prove  from  Scripture  and  Reason  the 
justness  of  their  doctrines  concerning  Baptism  and  Conversion.  2. 1  would 
show,  that  even  in  respect  of  the  Prayer-ijook,  Ilomihes,  &c.  of  the  Church 
of  England,  taken  as  a  wliole,  their  opponents  were  comparatively  as  ill 
off  as  themselves,  if  not  worse.  3.  That  the  few  mistakes  or  inconvenient 
phrases  of  the  Baptismal  Sei^vice  did  not  impose  on  the  conscience  the  ne- 
cessity of  resigning  the  pastoral  office.    4,  That  even  if  tliey  did,  this 


232  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

would  by  no  means  justify  schism  from  Lay-membership :  or  else  there 
could  be  no  schism  except  fiom  an  immaculate  and  infallible  Church.  Now, 
as  our  Articles  have  declared  that  no  Church  is  or  ever  was  such,  it  would 
foUow  that  there  is  no  such  sin  as  that  of  Schism — i.  e.  that  St.  Paul  wrote 
falsely  or  idly.  5.  That  the  Escape  tln'ough  the  Channel  of  Dissent  is 
from  the  Fiying  Pan  to  the  Fire — or  to  use  a  less  worn  and  vulgar  simile, 
the  Escai)e  of  a  Leech  from  a  glass-jar  of  Water  into  the  naked  and  open 
Air.  But  never,  never,  would  I  in  one  breath  allow  my  Church  to  be  fal- 
lible, and  in  the  next  contend  for  her  absolute  freedom  from  all  error — ne- 
ver confine  inspiration  and  perfect  truth  to  the  Scriptures,  and  then  scold 
for  the  perfect  Truth  of  each  and  eveiy  word  in  the  Prayer-book.  Enough 
for  me,  if  in  my  Heart  of  Hearts,  free  from  all  fear  of  man  and  all  lust  of 
preferment,  I  believe  (as  I  do)  the  Church  of  England  to  be  the  most  Apos- 
tolic Church  ;  that  its  doctrines  and  ceremonies  contain  nothing  dangerous 
to  Righteousness  or  Salvation ;  and  that  the  imperfections  in  its  Liturgy 
are  spots  indeed,  but  spots  on  the  sun,  which  impede  neither  its  Light  nor 
its  Heat,  so  as  to  prevent  the  good  seed  from  growing  in  a  good  soil  and 
producing  fruits  of  Redemption. 


\*The  author  had  v^aitten  and  intended  to  insert  a  rfmilar  exposition  on 
the  Eucharist.  But  as  the  leading  view  has  been  given  in  the  Comment 
on  Redemption,  its  length  induces  him  to  defer  it,  together  with  the  arti- 
cles on  Faith  and  the  Philosophy  of  Prayer,  to  a  small  supplementary  Vol- 
ume. 


COIVCLUSION. 


I  AM  not  so  ignorant  of  the  temper  and  tendency  of  the  age 
ill  which  I  live,  as  either  to  be  unprepared  for  the  S07't  of  re- 
marks which  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  Evangelist  will 
call  forth,  or  to  attempt  an  answer  to  them.  Visionary  Ra- 
vings, Obsolete  Whimsies,  Transcendental  Trash,  &c.  &c.  I 
leave  to  pass  at  the  price  current,  among  those  who  are  wil- 
ling to  receive  abusive  phrases  as  substitutes  for  argument. 
Should  any  Suborner  of  anonymous  Criticism  have  engaged 
some  literal y  Bravo  or  Buffoon  beforehand,  to  vilify  this  work, 
as  in  former  instances,  1  would  give  a  friendly  hint  to  the  ope- 
rative Critic  that  he  may  compile  an  excellent  article  for  the 
occasion,  and  with  very  little  trouble,  out  of  Warburton's  Bro- 
chure on  Grace  and  the  Spirit,  and  the  preface  to  the  same. — 
There  is,  however,  one — objection,  shall  I  say  ?  or  accusation  ? 
which  will  so  often  be  heard  from  men,  whose  talents  and  re- 
puted moderation  must  give  a  weight  to  their  words,  that  I  owe 
it  both  to  my  own  character  and  to  the  interests  of  my  read- 
ers, not  to  leave  unnoticed.  The  charge  will  probably  be 
worded  in  this  way  : — there  is  nothing  new  in  all  this  !  {as  if 
novelty  were  any  merit  in  questions  of  Revealed  Religion ! ) 
It  is  Mysticism^  all  taken  out  of  William  Law,  after  he  had 
lost  his  senses,  poor  Man  !  in  brooding  over  the  Visions  of  a 
delirious  German  Cobbler,  Jacob  Behmen. 

Of  poor  Jacob  Behmen  I  have  delivered  my  sentiments  at 
larse  in  another  work.  Those  who  have  condescended  to  look 
into  his  writings  must  know,  that  his  characteristic  errors  are  : 
first,  the  mistaking  the  accidents  and  peculiarities  of  his  own 
over-wrought  mind  for  realities  and  modes  of  thinking  com- 
mon to  all  minds  :  and  secondly  the  confusion  of  Nature,  i.  e. 
the  active  powers  communicated  to  matter,  with  God,  the  Cre- 
ator.    And  if  the  same  persons  have  done  more  than  merely 

looked  into  the  present  volume,  they  must  have  seen,  that  to 

30 


234  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

eradicate,  and,  if  possible,  to  preclude,  both  the  one  and  the 
other  stands  prominent  among  its  avowed  objects.  ( See  p. 
9i:>— 101:  116—118). 

Of  William  Law's  Works  I  am  acquainted  with  the  Serious 
Call  ;  and  besides  this  I  remember  to  have  read  a  small  tract, 
on  Prayer,  if  I  mistake  not,  as  I  easily  may,  it  being  at  least 
six-and-twenty  years  since  I  saw  it.  He  may  in  this  or  in 
other  tracts  have  quoted  the  same  passages  from  the  fourth 
Gospel  as  I  have  done.  But  surely  this  aftbrds  no  presumption 
that  my  conclusions  are  the  same  with  his  ;  still  less,  that  they 
are  drawn  from  the  same  premises ;  and  least  of  all,  that  they 
were  adopted  from  his  Writings.  Whether  Law  has  used  the 
phrase,  assimilation  by  faith,  I  know  not ;  but  I  know  that  I 
should  expose  myself  to  a  just  charge  of  an  idle  parade  of  my 
Reading  if  I  recapitulated  the  tenth  part  of  the  Authors,  An- 
cient and  Modern,  Romish  and  Reformed,  from  Law  to  Clem- 
ens Alexandrinus  and  Irenaeus,  in  whose  works  the  same 
phrase  occurs  in  the  same  sense.  And  after  all,  on  such  a 
subject  how  worse  than  childish  is  the  whole  dispute ! 

Is  the  fourth  Gospel  authentic  ?  And  is  the  interpretation, 
I  have  given,  true  or  false  ?  These  are  the  only  questions 
which  a  wise  man  would  put,  or  a  Christian  be  anxious  to  an- 
swer. I  not  only  believe  it  to  be  the  true  sense  of  the  texts; 
but  I  assert  that  it  is  the  only  true,  rational,  and  even  tolera- 
ble sense.  And  this  position  alone  I  conceive  myself  interest- 
ed in  defending,  I  have  studied  with  an  open  and  fearless 
spirit  the  attempts  of  sundry  learned  Critics  of  the  Continent, 
to  invalidate  the  authenticity  of  this  Gospel,  before  and  since 
Eichhorn's  Vindication.  The  result  has  been  a  clearer  assur- 
ance, and  (as  far  as  this  was  possible)  a  yet  deeper  conviction 
of  the  genuineness  of  all  the  writings,  which  the  Church  has 
attributed  to  this  Apostle.  That  those,  who  have  formed  an 
opposite  conclusion,  should  object  to  the  use  of  expressions 
which  they  had  ranked  among  the  most  obvious  marks  of  spu- 
riousness,  follows  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  that  men,  who 
with  a  clear  and  cloudless  assent  receive  the  sixth  chapter  of 
this  Gospel  as  a  faithful,  nay,  inspired  Record  of  an  actual  dis- 


CONCLUSION.  235 

course,  should  take  offence  at  the  repetition  of  words  which 
the  Redeemer  himself  in  the  perfect  foreknowledge  that  they 
would  confirm  the   disbelieving,  alienate  the  unsteadfast,  and 
transcend  the  present  capacity  even  of  his  own  Elect,  had  cho- 
sen as  the  most  appropriate  ;  and  which  after  the  most  decisive 
proofs,  that  they  were  misinterpreted  by  the  greater  number  of 
his  Hearers,  and  not  understood  by  any,  he  nevertheless  re- 
peated with  stronger  emphasis  and  without  comment,  as  the 
only  appropriate  symbols  of  the  great  truth  he  was  declaring, 
and  to  realize  which  e/evsro  o'a^|;[ 87] — that  in  their  own  dis- 
courses these  men  should  hang  back  from  all  express  reference 
to  these  words,  as  if  they  were  afraid  or  ashamed  of  them, 
though  the  earliest  recorded  ceremonies  and  liturgical  forms 
of  the  primitive  Church  are  absolutely  inexplicable,  except  in 
connexion  with  this  discourse,  and  with  the  mysterious  and 
spiritual^  not  allegorical  and  merely  ethical,  import   of  the 
same  ;  and  though  this  import  is  solemnly  and  in  the  most  un- 
equivocal terms  asserted  and  taught  by  their  own  Church,  even 
in  her  Catechism,  or  compendium  of  doctrines  necessary  for 
all  her  Members ;  this  I  may,  perhaps,  understand  ;  but  this  I 
am  not  able  to  vindicate  or  excuse  ! 

There  is,  however,  one  opprobrious  phrase  which  it  may  be 
profitable  for  my  younger  Readers  that  I  should  explain,  viz. 
Mysticism.  And  for  this  purpose  I  will  quote  a  sentence  or 
two  from  a  Dialogue  which,  had  my  prescribed  limits  permit- 
ted, I  should  have  attached  to  the  present, Work  ;  but  which 
with  an  Essay  on  the  Church,  as  instituted  by  Christ,  and  as 
an  Establishment  of  the  State,  and  a  series  of  Letters  on  the 
right  and  the  superstitious  use  and  estimation  of  the  Bible, 
will  appear  in  a  small  volume  by  themselves,  should  the  re- 
ception given  to  the  present  volume  encourage  or  permit  the 
publication. 

MYSTICS   AND    MYSTICISM. 

"  Anliiioiis. — What  do   you  call  Mysticism  ?     And  do  you 
use  the  word  in  a  good  or  in  a  bad  sense  ?" 

''  Nous. — In  the  latter  only  :  as  far,  at  least,  as  we  are  now 


2o6  AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 

concerned  with  it.     When  a  man  refers  to  inward  feelings  and 
experiences,  of  which  Mankind   at  large  are  not  conscious,  as 
evidences  of  the   truth  of  any  opinion — such   a  Man  I  call  a 
Mystic  :  and  the  grounding  of  any    theory  or  belief  on  acci- 
dents and   anomalies  of  individual  sensations  or   fancies,    and 
the  use  of  peculiar  terms  invented  or  perverted  from  their  or- 
dinary significations,  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  these  idio- 
syncracies,  and  pretended  facts  of  interior  consciousness,   I 
name   Mysticism.     Where  the  error  consists   simply  in  the 
Mystic's  attaching  to  these  anomalies  of  his  individual  tempe- 
rament the  character  of  Reality,  and  in  receiving  them  as  per- 
manent  Truths,  having   a  subsistence  in  the  Divine  Mind, 
though  revealed  to  himself  alone ;  but  entertains  this  persua- 
sion  without  demanding   or  expecting  the   same  faith  in  his 
neighbours — I    should  regard  it  as  a  species  of  enthusiasm, 
always  indeed  to  be  deprecated  but  yet  capable  of  co-existing 
with  many  excellent  qualities  both  of  Head  and  Heart.     But 
when  the  Mystic  by  ambition  or  still  meaner  passions,  or  (as 
sometimes  is  the  case)  by  an  uneasy  and  self-doubting  state  of 
mind  that  seeks  confirmation  in  outward  sympathy,  is  led  to 
impose  his  faith,  as  a  duty,  on  mankind  generally :  and  when 
with  such  views  he  asserts,  that  the  same  experiences  would 
be  vouchsafed,  the  same  truths  revealed,  to  evei^y  man  but  for 
his  secret  wickedness  and  unholy  will — such  a  Mystic  is  a  Fa- 
natic, and  in  certain    states  of  the  public  mind  a  dangerous 
Member  of  Society.     And  most  so    in  those  ages  and  coun- 
tries in  which  Fanatics  of  elder  standing  are  allowed  to  perse- 
cute the   fresh  competitor.     For  under   these  predicaments, 
Mysticism,   though  originating  in  the   singularities  of  an  indi- 
vidual Nature,  and  therefore  essentially  anomalous,  is  never- 
theless  highly  contagious.     It  is  apt  to  collect  a  swarm  and 
cluster  circum  fana,    around  the   new  Fane :  and  therefore 
merits  the  name    of  Fanaticism,   or   as   the    Germans   say, 
Schwarmerey,  i.  e.  Swarni-makingP 

We  will  return  to  the  harmless  species — the  enthusiastic 
INIystics  :  a  species  that  may  again  be  subdivided  into  two  ranks. 
And  it  will  not  be  other  than  germane  to    the  subject,  if  1  cn~ 


CONCLUSION.  237 

deavour  to  describe  them  in  a  sort  of  allegorj,  or  parable. 
Let  us  imagine  a  poor  Pilgrim  benighted  in  a  wilderness  or 
desart,  and  pursuing  his  way  in  the  starless  dark  with  a  Ian- 
thorn  in  his  hand.  Chance  or  his  happy  genius  leads  him  to 
an  Oasis  or  natural  Garden,  such  as  in  the  creations  of  my 
youthful  fancy  I  supposed  Enos  [88]  the  Child  of  Cain  to  have 
found.  And  here,  hungry  and  thirsty,  the  way-wearied  Man 
rests  at  a  fountain ;  and  the  Taper  of  his  Lanthorn  throws  its 
Light  on  an  overshadowing  Tree,  a  Boss  of  snow-white  Blos- 
soms, through  which  the  green  and  growing  Fruits  peeped, 
and  the  ripe  golden  Fruitage  glowed.  Deep,  vivid,  and  faith- 
ful are  the  impressions,  which  the  lovely  Imagery  comprised 
within  the  scanty  Circle  of  Light,  makes  and  leaves  on  his 
Memory  !  But  scarcely  has  he  eaten  of  the  fruits  and  drank  of 
the  fountain,  ere  scared  by  the  roar  and  howl  from  the  desart 
he  hurries  forward  :  and  as  he  passes  with  hasty  steps  through 
grove  and  glade,  shadows  and  imperfect  beholdings  and  vivid 
fragments  of  things  distinctly  seen  blend  with  the  past  and 
present  shapings  of  his  Brain.  Fancy  modifies  Sight.  His 
Dreams  transfer  their  forms  to  real  Objects,  and  these  lend 
a  substance  and  an  outness  to  his  Dreams.  Apparitions  greet 
him ;  and  when  at  a  distance  from  this  enchanted  land,  and  on 
a  different  track,  the  Daw-n  of  Day  discloses  to  him  a  Caravan; 
a  troop  of  his  fellow-men,  his  memory,  which  is  itself  half 
fancy,  is  interpolated  afresh  by  every  attempt  to  recall,  con- 
nect, and  piece  out  his  recollections.  His  narration  is  received 
as  a  JNIadman's  Tale.  He  shrinks  from  the  rude  laugh  and  con- 
temptuous Sneer,  and  retires  into  himself.  Y-et  the  craving 
for  Sympathy,  strong  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  his 
Convictions,  impels  him  to  unbosom  himself  to  abstract  Audi- 
tors ;  and  the  poor  Quietist  becomes  a  Penman,  and,  all  too 
poorly  stocked  for  the  Writer's  trade,  he  borrows  his  phrases 
and  figures  from  the  only  Writings  to  which  he  has  had  access, 
the  sacred  Books  of  his  Religion.  And  thus  I  shadow  out 
the  enthusiast  Mystic  of  the  first  sort ;  at  the  head  of  which 
stands  the  illuminated  Teutonic  Thelosopher  and  Shoemaker, 
honest  Jacob  Behmjgn,  born  near  Gorlitz,  in  iJpper  Lusatia, 


238  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

in   the    17th  of  our  Elizabeth's  Reign,  and  who  died  in  the 
22d  of  her  Successsor's. 

To  delineate  a  Mystic  of  the  second  and  higher  order,  we 
need  only  endow  our  Pilgrim  with  equal  gifts  of  Nature,  but 
these  developed  and  displayed  by  all  the  aids  and  arts  of  Educa- 
tion and  favorable  Fortune.     He  is  on  his  way  to  the  Mecca 
of  his  ancestral  and  nationals]  Faith,  with  a  well-guarded  and 
numerous  Procession  of  Merchants   and  Fellow-pilgrims,  on 
the  established  Track.     At  the  close  of  Day  the  Caravan  has 
halted  :  the  full  moon  rises  on  the  Desart :  and  he  strays  forth 
alone,  out  of  sight,  but  to  no  unsafe  distance ;  and    Chance 
leads  him  too  to  the  same  Oasis  or  Islet  of  Verdure  on  the  Sea 
of  Sand.     He  wanders  at  leisuie  in  its  maze  of  Beautv  and 
Sweetness,  and  thrids  his  way  through  the  odorous  and  flow- 
ering Thickets  into  open  "  Spots  of  Greenery,"  and  discovers 
statues  and  memorial  characters,  grottos,  and  refreshing  Caves. 
But   the  Moonshine,  the  imaginative  Poesy  of  Nature,  spreads 
its  soft  shadowy  charm  over  all,  conceals  distances,  and  mag- 
nifies  heights,   and   modifies  relations;  and  fills  up  vacuities 
with  its  own  whiteness,  counterfeiting  substance ;  and  where 
the  dense  shadov/s  lie,  makes  solidity   imitate    Hollowness ; 
and  gives  to  all  objects  a  tender  visionary  hue  and  softening. 
Interpret  the    Moonlight   and  the  Shadows   as    the   peculiar 
genius  and  sensibility  of  the  Individual's  own  Spirit :  and  here 
you  have  the  other  sort :  a  Mystic,  an  Enthusiast  of  a  nobler 
Breed — a   Fenelon.     But  the  residentiary,  or  the  frequent 
visitor  of  the  favored  spot,  who  has  scanned  its  beauties  by 
steady  Day-light,  and  mastered  its  true  proportions  and  linea- 
ments, he  will  discover  that  both  Pilgrims  have  indeed  been 
there  !  He  will  know,  that  the  delightful  Dream,  which  the 
latter  tells,  is  a  Dream  of  Truth ;  and  that  even  in  the  be- 
wildered Tale  of  the   former  there  is  Truth  mingled  with  the 
Dream. 

But  the  Source,  the  Spring-head,  of  the|Charges  which  I 
anticipate,  lies  deep.  Materialism,  conscious  and  avowed  Ma- 
terialism, is  in  ill-repute :  and  a  confessed  Materialist  there- 
fore a  rare  character.     But  if  the   faith  be  ascertained  by  the 


CONCLUSION  239 

fruits;  if  the  predominant,  though  most  often  unsuspected, 
persuasion  is  to  be  learnt  from  the  influences,  under  which  the 
thoughts  and  affections  of  the  Man  move  and  take  their  direc- 
tion ;  I  must  reverse  the  position.  Only  not  all  are  Ma- 
terialists. Except  a  few  individuals,  and  those  for  the  most 
part  of  a  single  Sect:  and  every  one,  who  calls  himself  a 
Christian,  holds  himself  to  have  a  Soul  as  well  as  a  Body.  He 
distinguishes  Mind  from  Matter,  the  Subject  of  his  conscious- 
ness from  the  Objects  of  the  same.  The  former  is  his  Mind  : 
and  he  says,  it  is  immaterial.  But  though  Subject  and  Sub- 
stance are  words  of  kindred  roots,  nay,  little  less  than  equiv- 
alent terms,  yet  nevertheless  it  is  exclusively  to  sensible  Ob- 
jects, to  Bodies,  to  Modifications  of  Matter,  that  he  habitu- 
ally attaches  the  attributes  of  reality,  of  Substance.  Real 
and  Tangible,  Substantial  and  Material,  are  Synonimes  for 
him.  He  never  indeed  asks  himself,  what  he  means  by  Mind  ? 
But  if  he  did,  and  tasked  himself  to  return  an  honest  answer — 
as  to  what,  at  least,  he  had  hitherto  meant  by  it — he  would 
find,  that  he  had  described  it  by  negatives,  as  the  opposite  of 
Bodies,  ex.  gr,  as  a  somewhat  opposed  to  solidity,  to  visibility 
&c.  as  if  you  could  abstract  the  capacity  of  a  vessel,  and  con- 
ceive of  it  as  a  somewhat  by  itself,  and  then  give  to  the  emp- 
tiness the  properties  of  containing,  holding,  being  entered, 
and  so  forth.  In  short,  though  the  proposition  would  perhaps 
be  angrily  denied  in  words,  yet  in  fact  he  thinks  of  his  Mind, 
as  a  property  J  or  accident  of  a  something  else,  that  he  calls  a 
Soul  or  Spirit :  though  the  very  same  difficulties  must  recur, 
the  moment  he  should  attempt  to  establish  the  difference.  For 
either  this  Soul  or  Spirit  is  nothing  but  a  thinner  Body,  a  finer 
Mass  of  Matter  :  or  the  attribute  of  Self-subsistency  vanishes 
from  the  Soul  on  the  same  grounds,  on  which  it  is  refused  to 
the  Mind. 

I  am  persuaded,  however,  that  the  dogmatism  of  the  Cor- 
puscular School,  though  it  still  exerts  an  influence  on  men's 
notions  and  phrases,  has  received  a  mortal  blow  from  the  in- 
creasingly dynamic  spirit  of  the  physical  Sciences  now  high- 
est in  public  estimation.     And  it  may  safely  be  predicted,  that 


240  AIDS    TO    RErLECTION. 

the  results  will  extend  beyond  the  intention  of  those,  who  are 
gradually  effecting  this  revolution.  It  is  not  Chemistry  alone 
that  will  be  indebted  to  the  Genius  of  Davy,  Oersted,  and 
their  compeers :  and  not  as  the  Founder  of  Physiology  and 
philosophic  Anatomy  alone,  will  Mankind  love  and  revere  the 
name  of  John  Hunter.  These  men  have  not  only  taught^ 
they  have  compelled  us  to  admit, that  the  immediate  objects  of 
our  senses,  or  rather  the  grounds  of  the  visibility  and  tangibi- 
lity of  all  Objects  of  Sense,  bear  the  same  relation  and  similar 
proportion  to  the  intelligible  object — i.  e.  to  the  Object  which 
we  actually  mean  when  we  say,  "  It  is  such  or  such  a  thing,^'* 
or  '^  I  have  seen  this  or  that,^'' — as  the  paper,  ink,  and  differ- 
ently combined  straight  and  curved  lines  of  an  Edition  of  Ho- 
mer bear  to  what  we  understand  by  the  words,  Iliad  and 
Odyssey.  Nay,  nothing  would  be  more  easy  than  so  to  con- 
struct the  paper,  ink,  painted  Capitals,  &c.  of  a  printed  disqui- 
sition on  the  Eye,  or  the  Muscles  and  Cellular  Texture  (i.  e. 
the  Flesh)  of  the  Human  Body,  as  to  bring  together  every 
one  of  the  sensible  and  ponderable  Stuff's  or  Elements,  that 
are  sensuously  perceived  in  the  Eye  itself,  or  in  the  Flesh 
itself.  Carbon  and  Nitrogen,  Oxygen  and  Hydrogen,  Sulphur, 
Phosphorus,  and  one  or  two  Metals  and  Metallic  Bases,  con- 
stitute the  whole.  It  cannot  be  these,  therefore,  that  we 
mean  by  an  Eye,  by  our  Body.  But  perhaps  it  may  be  a  par- 
ticular Combination  of  these  ?  But  here  comes  a  question  : 
In  this  term  do  you  or  do  you  not  include  the  Principle,  the 
Operating  Cause,  of  the  Combination?  If  not,  then  detach 
this  Eye  from  the  Body  !  Look  steadily  at  it — as  it  might  lie 
on  the  Marble  Slab  of  a  dissecting  Koom.  Say  it  were  the 
eye  of  a  Murderer,  a  Bellingham  :  or  the  eye  of  a  murdered 
Patriot,  a  Sidney ! — behold  it,  handle  it,  with  its  various  ac- 
companiments or  constituent  parts,  of  Tendon,  Ligament, 
Membrane,  Blood-vessel,  Gland,  Humors ;  its  Nerves  of  Sense, 
of  Sensation,  and  of  Motion.  Alas!  all  these  names,  like 
that  of  the  Organ  itself,  are  so  many  Anachronisms,  figures 
of  Speech,  to  express  that  which  has  been  :  as  when  the 
Guide  points  with  his  finger  to  a  heap  of  stones,  and  tells   the 


CONCLUSION.  241 

Traveller,  "That  is  Babylon,  or  Persepolis." — Is  this  cold 
"Jelly  the  Light  of  the  Body  ?"  Is  this  the  Micranthropos  in 
the  marvellous  Microcosm  ^  Is  this  what  you  mean  when  you 
well  define  the  Eye  as  the  Telescope  and  the  Mirror  of  the 
soul,  the  Seat  and  Agent  of  an  almost  magical  power  ? 

Pursue  the  same  inquisition  with  every  other  part  of  the 
Body,  whether  integral  or  simply  ingredient ;  and  let  a  Ber- 
zelius  or  a  Hatchett  be  your  interpreter,  and  demonstrate  to 
you  what  it  is  that  in  each  actually  meets  your  Senses.  And 
when  you  have  heard  the  scanty  catalogue,  ask  yourself  if  these 
are  indeed  the  living  Fleshy  the  blood  of  Life?  Or  not  far 
rather — I  speak  of  what,  as  a  Man  of  Common  Sense,  you  re- 
ally rfo,  not  what,  as  a  philosopher,  you  ought  to  believe — is 
it  not,  I  say,  far  rather  the  distinct  and  individuahzed  Agen- 
cy that  by  the  given  combinations  utters  and  bespeaks  its  Pres- 
ence? Justly  and  with  strictest  propriety  of  language  may 
I  say,  Speaks.  It  is  to  the  coarseness  of  our  Senses,  or  rath- 
er to  the  defect  and  limitation  of  our  percipient  faculty,  that 
the  visible  Object  appears  the  same  even  for  a  moment.  The 
characters,  which  I  am  now  shaping  on  this  paper,  abide.  Not 
only  the  forms  remain  the  same,  but  the  particles  of  color- 
ing stuft"  are  fixed,  and,  for  an  indefinite  period  at  least,  re- 
main the  same.  But  the  particles  that  constitute  the  size^  the 
visibility  of  an  organic  structure  (see  p.  42)  are  in  perpetual 
flux.  They  are  to  the  combining  and  constitutive  PoAver  as 
the  pulses  of  air  to  the  Voice  of  a  Discourser;  or  of  one  who 
sings  a  roundelay.  The  same  words  may  be  repeated;  but  in 
each  second  of  time  the  articulated  air  hath  passed  away, 
and  each  act  of  articulation  appropriates  and  gives  momentary 
form  to  a  new  and  other  portion.  As  the  column  of  blue  smoke 
from  a  cottage  chimney  in  the  breathless  Summer  Noon,  or 
the  steadfast-seeming  Cloud  on  the  edge-point  of  a  Hill  in  the 
driving  air-current,  which  momently  condensed  and  recomposed 
is  the  common  phantom  of  a  thousand  successors; — such  is  the 
flesh,  which  our  bodily  eyes  transmit  to  us;  which  our  Palates 
taste;  which  our  Hands  touch. 

But  perhaps  the  material  particles  possess  this  combining 

31 


242  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

power  by  inherent  reciprocal  attractions,  repulsions,  and  elec- 
tive affinities,  and  are   themselves  the  joint  Artists  of  their 
own  combinations?  I  will  not  reply,  though  well  I  might,  that 
this  would  be  to  solve  one  problem  by  another,  and  merely  to 
shift  the  mystery.     It  will  be  sufficient  to  remind  the  thoughtful 
Queiist,  that  even  herein  consists  the  essential  difference,  the 
contra-distinction,  of  an  Organ  from  a  Machine ;  that  not  on- 
ly the  characteristic  Shape  is  evolved  from  the  invisible  cen- 
tral power,  but  the  material  Mass  itself  is  acquired  by  assimila- 
tion.    The  germinal  power  of  the  Plant  transmutes  the  fixed 
air  and  the  elementary  Base  of  Water  into  Grass  or  Leaves  ; 
and  on  these  the  Organific  Principle  in  the  Ox  or  the  Elephant 
exercises  an  Alchemy  still  more  stupendous.     As  the  unseen 
Agency  weaves  its  magic  eddies,  the  foliage  becomes  indiffer- 
ently the  Bone  and  its  Mairow,  the  pulpy  Brain,  or  the  solid 
Ivory.     That  what  you  see  is  blood,  is  flesh,  is  itself  the  work, 
or  shall  I  say,  the  translucence,  of  the  invisible  Energy,  which 
soon  surrenders  or   abandons  them  to  inferior  Powers,  (for 
there  is  no  pause  nor  chasm  in  the  activities  of  Nature )  which 
repeat  a  similar  metamorphosis  according  to  their  kind.     These 
are  not  fancies,  conjectures,  or  even  hypotheses,  but /acfs; 
to  deny  which  is  impossible,  not  to  reflect  on  w^hich  is  igno- 
minious.    And  we  need  only  reflect  on  them  with  a  calm  and 
silent  spirit  to  learn  the  utter  emptiness  and  unmeaningness  of 
the  vaunted  Mechanico-corpuscular  Philsophy,  with  both  its 
twins.  Materialism  on  the  one  hand,  and  Idealism,  rightlier 
named  Subjective  Holism^  on  the  other  :  the  one  obtruding  on 
us  a  World  of  Spectres  and  Apparitions ;  the  other  a  mazy 
Dream  ! 

Let  the  Mechanic  or  corpuscular  Scheme,  which  in  its  abso- 
luteness and  strict  consistency  was  first  introduced  by  Des 
Cartes,  be  judged  by  the  results.  By  its  fruits  shall  it  be 
known. 

In  order  to  submit  the  various  phaenomena  of  moving  bodies 
to  geometrical  construction,  we  are  under  the  necessity  of  ab- 
stracting from  corporeal  substance  all  its  positive  properties, 
and  obliged  to  consider  Bodies  as  differing  from  equal  portions 


CONCLUSION 


243 


of  Space [89]  onljr  by  figure  and  mobility.  And  as  a  Fiction 
of  Science,  it  would  be  difficult  to  overvalue  tbis  invention. 
It  possesses  tbe  same  merits  in  relation  to  Geometry  that  the 
atomic  theory  has  in  relation  to  Algebraic  Calculus.  But  in 
contempt  of  Common  vSense,  and  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
express  declarations  of  the  inspired  Historian  (Genesis  I.), 
and  to  the  tone  and  spirit  of  the  Scriptures  throughout,  Des 
Cartes  propounded  it  as  truth  of  fact :  and  instead  of  a  World 
created  and  filled  with  }noductive  forces  by  the  Almighty  Fiat, 
left  a  lifeless  Machine  whirled  about  by  the  dust  of  its  own 
Grinding  :  as  if  Death  could  come  from  the  living  Fountain 
of  Life ;  Nothingness  and  Phantom  from  the  Plenitude  of  Re- 
ality !  the  Absoluteness  of  Creative  Will  ! 

Holy!  Holy!  Holy!  let  me  be  deemed  mad  by  all  men,  if 
such  be  thy  ordinance :  but,  0  !  from  such  Madness  save  and 
preserve  me,  my  God  ! 

When,  however,  after  a  short  interval,  the  Genius  of  Kep- 
ler, expanded  and  organized  in  the  soul  of  Newton,  and  there 
(if  I  may  hazard  so  bold  an  expression)  refining  itself  into  an 
almost  celestial  Clearness,  had  expelled  the  Cartesian  Vorti- 
ces; [90]  then  the  necessity  of  an  active  power,  of  positive 
forces  present  in  the  Material  Universe,  forced  itself  on  the 
conviction.  For  as  a  Law  without  a  Law-giver  is  a  mere  ab- 
straction ;  so  a  Laio  without  an  Agent  to  realize  it,  a  Con- 
stitution without  an  abiding  Executive,  is,  in  fact,  not  a  Law 
but  an  Idea !  In  the  profound  Emblem  of  the  Great  Tragic 
Poet,  it  is  the  powerless  Prometheus  fixed  on  a  barren  Rock. 
And  what  was  the  result  ?  How  was  this  necessity  provided 
for?  God  himself — my  hand  trembles  as  I  write  !  Rather,  then, 
let  me  employ  the  word,  which  the  religious  Feeling  in  its 
perplexity,  suggested  as  the  substitute — the  Deity  itself  was 
declared  to  be  the  real  Agent,  the  actual  Gravitating  Power! 
The  Law  and  the  Law-giver  were  indentified.  God  (says 
Dr.  Priestly )  not  only  does,  but  is  every  thing.  Jupiter  est 
quodcunque  vides.  And  thus  a  system,  which  commenced  by 
excluding  all  life  and  immanent  activity  from  the  visible  Uni- 
verse and  evacuating  the  natural  World  of  all  Nature,  ended 
by  substituting  the  Deity,  and  reducing  the  Creator  to  a  mere 


244  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Anima  Mundi :  a  scheme  that  has  no  advantage  over  Spino- 
sism  but  its  inconsistency,  which  does  indeed  make  it  suit  a 
certain  Order  of  Intellects,  who,  like  the  Pleuronectse  (or  Flat 
Fish)  in  Ichthyology  that  have  both  eyes  on  the  same  side, 
never  see  but  half  of  a  subject  at  one  time,  and  forgetting  the 
one  before  they  get  to  the  other  are  sure  not  to  detect  any 
inconsistency  between  them. 

And  what  has  been  the  consequence  ?  An  increasing  un- 
willingness to  contemplate  the  Supreme  Being  in  his  personal 
Attributes  :  and  thence  a  Distaste  to  all  the  peculiar  Doctrines 
of  the  Christian  Faith,  the  Trinity,  the  incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God,  and  Redemption.  The  young  and  ardent,  ever  too 
apt  to  mistake  the  inward  triumph  in  the  detection  of  error 
for  a  positive  love  of  truth,  are  among  the  first  and  most  fre- 
quent victims  to  this  epidemic  fastidium.  Alas !  even  the 
sincerest  seekers  after  light  are  not  safe  from  the  contagion. 
Some  have  I  known,  constitutionally  religious — I  speak  feel- 
ingly'; for  I  speak  of  that  which  for  a  brief  period  was  my 
own  state — who  under  this  unhealthful  influence  have  been  so 
estranged  from  the  Heavenly  Father^  the  Lwing  God,  as  even 
to  shrink  from  the  personal  pronouns  as  applied  to  the  Deity. 
But  many  do  I  know,  and  yearly  meet  with,  in  whom  a  false 
and  sickly  Taste  co-operates  with  the  prevailing  fashion  :  ma- 
ny, who  find  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  far  too 
real^  too  substantial ;  w^ho  feel  it  more  in  harmony  with  their 
indefinite  sensations 

"  To  woi-sliip  Nature  in  the  hill  and  valley, 
Not  knowing  what  they  love  : — " 

and  (to  use  the  language,  but  not  the  sense  or  purpose,  of  the 
great  Poet  of  our  Age )  would  fain  substitute  for  the  Jehovah 
of  their  Bible 

"  A  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfiised, 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  Light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  Ocean  and  the  living  Air  ; 
A  Motion  and  a  Spirit,  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  ohjecta  of  all  thought. 


And  rolls  through  all  things !  " 


Wordsworth. 


CONCLUSION.  245 

And  this  from  having  been  educated  to  understand  the  Divine 
Omnipresence  in  any  sense  rather  than  the  alone  sale  and  le- 
gitimate one,  the  presence  of  all  things  to  God  ! 

Be  it,  however,  that  the  number  of  such  men  is  compara- 
tively small!     And  be  it  (as  in  fact  it  often  is)  but  a  brief 
stage,  a  transitional  state,  in  the  process  of  intellectual  Growth  ! 
Yet  among  a  numerous  and  increasing  class  of  the  higher  and 
middle  Ranks,  there  is  an  inward  withdrawing  from  the  Life 
and  Personal  Being  of  God,  a  turning  of  the  Thoughts  exclu- 
sively to   the   so  called  physical  Attributes,  to  the  Omnipres- 
ence in  the  counterfeit  form  of  Ubiquity,  to  the  Immensity  the 
Infinity,  the  Immutability ! — the  attributes  of  Space  with  a  no- 
tion of  Power  as  their  Substratum  ! — a  Fate,  in  short,  not  a 
Moral  Creator   and  Governor !  Let  intelligence  be  imagined, 
and  wherein  does  the  conception  of  God  difl'er  essentially  from 
that  of  Gravitation  (conceived  as  the  Cause  of  Gravity)  in  the 
understanding  of  those,  who  represent  the  Deity  not  only  as  a 
necessary  but  as  a  necessitated  Being  ?  those,  for  whom  Justice 
is  but  a  scheme    of  General  Laws ;  and    Holiness,    and   the 
divine  Hatred  of  Sin,  yea  and  Sin  itself,  are  words  without 
meaning  or  accommodations  to    a  rude  and  barbarous  race  ! 
HenCe,  I   more  than  fear,  the  prevailing  taste  for  Books  of 
Natural  Theology.  Physico-theology,  Demonstrations  of  God 
from  Nature,  Evidences  of  Christianity,  &;c.  &c.  Evidences  of 
Christianity  !  I  am  weary  of  the  Word.     Make  a  man  feel  the 
want  of  it ;  rouse  him,  if  you  can,  to  the  self-knowledge  of 
his  need  of  it ;  and  you  may  safely  trust  it  to  its  own  Evi- 
dence,— remembering  only  the  express  declaration  of  Christ 
himself:  No  man  cometh  to  me,  unless  the  Father   leadeth 
him!  Whatever  more  is  desirable — I  speak  now  with  refer- 
ence to  Christians  generally,  and  not  to  profest  Students  of 
Theology — may,  in  my  judgment,  be  far  more  safely  and  profit- 
ably taught,  without  controversy  or  the  supposition  of  infidel 
antagonists,  in  the  form  of  Ecclesiastical  History. 

The  last  fruit  of  the  Mechanico-corpuscular  Philosophy,  say 
rather  of  the  mode  and  direction  of  feeling  and  thinking  pro- 
duced by  it  on  the  educated  class  of  society  ;  or  that  result. 


246  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

which  as  more  immediately  connected  with  my  present  theme 
I  have  reserved  for  the  last — is  the  Iiabit  of  attaching  all  our 
conceptions  and  feelings,  and  of  applying  all  the  words  and 
phrases  expressing  reality,  to  the  objects  of  the  Senses  ;  more 
accurately  speaking,  to  the  images  and  sensations  by  which 
their  presence  is  made  known  to  us.  Now  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  assert,  that  it  was  one  of  the  great  purposes  of  Christianity, 
and  included  in  the  process  of  our  Redemption,  to  rouse  and 
emancipate  the  Soul  from  this  debasing  Slavery  to  the  out- 
ward Senses,  to  awaken  the  mind  to  the  true  Criteria  of  Re- 
ality, viz.  Permanence,  Power,  Will  manifested  in  Act,  and 
Truth  operating  as  Life.  "  My  words,"  said  Christ,  "  are 
Spirit ;  and  they  {i.  e.  the  spiritual  powers  expressed  by  them) 
are  Truth ;" — i,  e.  very  Being.  For  this  end  our  Lord,  who 
came  from  Heaven  to  "  take  Captivity  captive,"  chose  the 
words  and  names  that  designate  the  familiar  yet  most  impor- 
tant Objects  of  Sense,  the  nearest  and  most  concerning  Things 
and  Incidents  of  corporeal  nature : — Water,  Flesh,  Blood, 
Birth,  Bread  I  But  he  used  them  in  senses,  that  could  not 
without  absurdity  be  supposed  to  respect  the  mere  phcpnomena, 
Water,  Flesh,  &c.,  in  senses  that  by  no  possibility  could  apply 
to  the  color,  figure,  specific  mode  of  Touch  or  Taste  produced 
on  ourselves,  and  by  which  we  are  made  aware  of  the  pres- 
ence of  Things,  and  understand  them — Res,  quas  sub  appari- 
tionibus  istis  staiuenda  sunt.  And  this  awful  Recalling  of  the 
drowsed  soul  from  the  dreams  and  phantom  world  of  sensuali- 
ty to  actual  Reality, — how  has  it  been  evaded  !  These  words, 
that  were  Spirit !  these  Mysteries,  which  even  the  Apostles 
must  wait  for  the  Paraclete,  {i.  e.  the  Helper,  the  Strength- 
ener)  in  order  to  comprehend!  these  spiritual  things  which 
can  only  be  spiritually  discerned, — were  mere  Metaphors, 
Figures  of  Speech,  Oriental  Hyperboles.  ''  All  this  means 
only  Morality  !"  Ah  !  how  far  nearer  to  the  truth  would 
tliese  men  have  been,  had  they  said  that  Morality  means  all 
this! 

The  effect,  however,  has  been  most  injurious  to  the  best 
interests  of  our  Universities,  to  our  incomparably  constituted 


CONCLUSION.  247 

Church,  and  even  to  our  National  Character.  The  few  who 
have  read  my  two  Lay- Sermons  are  no  strangers  to  my  opin- 
ions on  this  head;  and  in  my  Treatise  on  the  Church  and 
Churches,  I  shall,  if  Providence  vouchsafe,  submit  them  to 
the  Public,  with  their  grounds  and  historic  evidences  in  a 
more  systematic  form. 

I  have,  I  am  aware,  in  this  present  work  furnished  occasion 
for  a  charge  of  having  expressed  myself  with  slight  and  irrev- 
erence of  celebrated  Names,  especially  of  the  late  Dr.  Paley. 
O,  if  I  were  fond  and  ambitious  of  literary  Honor,  of  public 
Applause,  how  well  content  should  I  be  to  excite  but  one 
third  of  the  admiration  which,  in  my  inmost  Being,  I  feel  for 
the  head  and  heart  of  Paley  !  And  how  gladly  would  I  sur- 
render all  hope  of  contemporary  praise,  could  I  even  approach 
to  the  incomparable  grace,  propriety,  and  persuasive  facility 
of  his  writings !  But  on  this  very  account  I  believed  myself 
bound  in  conscience  to  throw  the  whole  force  of  my  intellect 
in  the  way  of  this  triumphal  Car,  on  which  the  tutelary  Gen- 
ius of  modern  Idolatry  is  borne,  even  at  the  risk  of  being 
crushed  under  the  wheels  !  I  have  at  this  moment  before  my 
eyes  the  343d — 344th  pages  of  his  Posthumous  Discourses  : 
the  amount  of  which  is  briefly  this, — that  all  the  words  and 
passages  in  the  New  Testament  which  express  and  contain 
the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Christianity,  the  paramount  objects 
of  the  Christian  Revelation,  "  all  those  which  speak  so  strong- 
ly of  the  value,  benefit  and  efficacy,  of  the  Death  of  Christ," 
assuredly  mean  something;  but  ivhat  they  mean,  nobody, 
it  seems,  can  tell!  But  doubtless  we  shall  discover  it,  and 
be  convinced  that  there  is  a  substantial  sense  belonging  to 
these  words — in  a  future  state  !  Is  there  an  enigma,  or  an 
absurdity,  in  the  Koran  or  the  Vedas  which  might  not  be  de- 
fended on  the  same  pretence  ?  A  similar  impression,  I  confess, 
w^as  left  on  my  mind  by  Dr.  Magee's  statement  or  exposition 
(adnormam  Grotianam)  of  the  doctrine  of  Redemption:  and 
deeply  did  it  disappoint  the  high  expectations,  sadly  did  it 
chill  the  fervid  sympathy,  which  his  introductory  chapter,  his 
manly  and  masterly  disquisition  on  the  Sv^erificial  rites  of  Pa- 
ganism, had  raised  in  my  mind. 


248  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

And  yet  I  cannot  read  the  pages  of  Paley,  here  referred  to, 
aloud,  without  the  liveliest  sense :  how  plausible  and  popu- 
lar they  will  sound  to  the  great  majority  of  Readers !  Thou- 
sands of  sober,  and  in  their  way  pious.  Christians,  will  echo  the 
words,  together  with  Magee's  kindred  interpretation  of  the 
Death  of  Christ,  and  adopt  the  doctrine  for  their  Make-faith ! 
And  why  ?  It  is  feeble.  And  whatever  is  feeble  is  always 
plausible;  for  it  favours  mental  indolence.  It  is  feeble:  and 
feebleness  in  the  disguise  of  confessing  and  condescending 
Strength  is  always  popular.  It  flatters  the  Reader,  by  re- 
moving the  apprehended  distance  between  him  and  the  supe- 
rior Author ;  and  it  flatters  him  still  more  by  enabling  him  to 
transfer  to  himself,  and  to  appropriate,  this  superiority  :  and 
thus  to  make  his  very  weakness  the  mark  and  evidence  of  his 
strength.  Ay,  quoth  the  r^ational  Christian — or  with  a  sighing, 
self-soothing  sound  between  an  Ay  and  an  Ah  ! — /  am  content 
to  think,  with  the  Great  Dr.  Paley,  and  the  learned  Arch- 
bishop of  Dubhn 

Man  of  Sense  !  Dr.  Paley  ivas  a  great  Man,  and  Dr.  Magee 
is  a  learned  and  exemplary  Prelate ;  but  You  do  not  think  at 
all! 

With  regard  to  the  convictions  avowed  and  enforced  in  my 
own  work,  1  will  continue  my  address  to  the  Man  of  Sense  in 
the  words  of  an  old  Philosopher ; — "  Tu  vero  crasssis  auribus 
et  obstinato  corde  respuis  quae  forsitan  vere  perhibeantur. 
Minus  hercule  calles,  pravissimis  opinionibus  ea  putari  men- 
dacia^  qucB  vel  auditu  nova^  vel  visu  rudia^  vet  eerie  supra  cap- 
turn  cogitationis  extemporanece  tuce  ardua  videantur  :  quae,  si 
paulo  accuratius  exploraris,  non  modo  compertu  evidentia,  sed 
etiaiii  factu  facilia,  senties,"     Apul  :  1.  1. 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


249 


In  compliance  with  the  suggestion  of  a  judicious  friend,  the 
celebrated  conclusion  of  the  fourth  Book  of  Paley's  Moral  and 
Political  Philosophy,  cited  in  p.  207  of  this  Volume,  is  here 
transprinted  for  the  convenience  of  the  Reader : 

"  Had  Jesus  Christ  delivered  no  other  declaration  than  the 
following — 'The  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that  are  in 
the  grave  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall  come  forth  :  they  that 
have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life  ;  and  they  that 
have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation ;' — he  had 
pronounced  a  message  of  inestimable  importance,  and  well 
worthy  of  that  splendid  apparatus  of  prophecy  and  miracles 
with  which  his  mission  was  introduced,  and  attested :  a  mes- 
sage in  which  the  wisest  of  mankind  would  rejoice  to  find  an 
answer  to  their  doubts,  and  rest  to  their  inquiries.  It  is  idle 
to  say,  that  a  future  state  had  been  discovered  already  : — 
it  had  been  discovered  as  the  Copernican  System  was; — it 
was  one  guess  among  many.  He  alone  discovers,  who  proves; 
and  no  man  can  prove  this  point,  but  the  teacher  who  testifies 
by  miracles  that  his  doctrine  comes  from  God." 

Paedianus  says  of  Virgil, — "  Usque  adeo  expers  invidiae,  ut 
siquid  erudite  dictum  inspiceret  alterius,  non  minus  gauderet 
ac  si  suum  esset."  My  own  heart  assures  me,  that  this  is  less 
than  the  truth  :  that  Virgil  would  have  read  a  beautiful  pas- 
sage in  the  work  of  another  with  a  higher  and  purer  delight 
than  in  a  work  of  his  own,  because  free  from  the  apprehension 
of  his  judgment  being  warped  by  self-love,  and  without  that 
repressive  modesty  akin  to  shame,  which  in  a  delicate  mind 
holds  in  check  a  man's  own  secret  thoughts  and  feelings,  when 
they  respect  himself.  The  cordial  admiration  with  which  I 
peruse  the  preceding  passage  as  a  master-piece  of  Composition 
would,  could  I  convey  it,  serve  as  a  measure  of  the  vital  im- 
portance I  attach  to  the  convictions  which  impelled  me  to  ani- 
madvert on  the  same  passage  as  doctrine. 

S.  T.  C. 
32 


NOTES 


X)W 


AIDS  TO  REFLECTION 


[l]p.3. 

So  Leighton  eays :  my  own  experience  would  rather  liave  auggested  tho 
contrary  remark. 

[For  remarks  on  the  peculiar  advantages  for  reflection  and  inducements 
to  the  exercise  of  it,  in  the  character  and  circumstances  of  tlie  young,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  Introduction  to  the  third  Volume  of  the  Friend. 
If  I  mistake  not,  tliere  is  many  a  young  man  among  those,  who  are  about 
entering  upon  the  theatre  of  the  world,  and  anxiously  contemplating  the 
coming  struggle  between  the  generous  impulses  of  his  own  spirit  and  the 
law,  which  this  world  imposes  upon  its  votaries,  who  will  understand  and 
re-peruse  witli  both  pleasure  and  profit  the  language  there  used.  The 
Friend,  it  may  be  necessary  to  remark,  is  a  work  of  Coleridge  but  httle 
known  in  this  countiy.  Should  the  present  volume  gain  the  attention  of 
the  public,  we  may  hope  soon  to  see  that  and  other  works  of  its  author  re- 
published among  us.    Am.  Ed.] 

[2]  p.  3. 

Distinction  between  Thought  and  Attention.. — By  thought  is  here  meant 
the  voluntary  reproduction  in  our  own  minds  of  those  states  of  conscious- 
ness, or  (to  use  a  phrase  more  familiar  to  the  religious  reader)  of  tlios©  in- 
ward experiences,  to  which,  as  to  his  best  and  most  authentic  documents, 
the  teacher  of  moral  or  religious  truth  refers  us.  In  ATTENTiorf,  we 
keep  the  mind  passive  :  in  thought,  we  rouse  it  into  activity.  In  the  for- 
mer, we  submit  to  an  impression — we  keep  the  mind  steady  in  order  to 
receive  the  stamp.  In  the  latter,  we  seek  to  imitate  the  artist,  while  we  oiu*- 
sclves  make  a  copy  or  duplicate  of  his  work.  We  may  learn  arithmetic, 
or  the  elements  of  geometry,  by  continued  attention  alone  ;  but  self-knowl- 
edge, or  an  insight  into  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  human  mind  and 


252  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

t -le  grounds  of  religion  and  true  morality,  in  addition  to  the  effort  of  atten- 
tion requires  the  energy  of  thought. 

[3]  p.  3. 

[To  those,  who  are  unaccustomed  to  the  language  of  the  author,  it  may 
be  of  service  to  remark  once  for  all,  that  he  often  aims  to  attam  a  greater 
degree  of  precision,  and  to  secure  the  advantage,  enjoyed  so  eminently  in 
the  Greek  and  German  languages,  of  presenting  a  thought  in  a  form,  that 
is  picturable  to  the  imagination,  by  recalling  compound  and  derivative 
words  to  their  original  and  etymological  import.  He  has  himself  remarked 
upon  the  benefit  resulting  from  it  in  the  next  note,  and  illustrated  it  par- 
ticularly in  several  words  in  different  parts  of  the  work  ;  but  the  careful 
reader  will  often  discover  this  peculiarity  in  his  use  of  words,  where  no 
notice  of  it  is  given.  The  peculiarity  indeed  is  not  so  much  in  his  giving 
them  a  new  sense,  as  in  limiting  and  defining  with  more  precision  the 
meaning,  w^hich  they  have,  and  using  in  a  precise  and  exclusive  sense 
terms,  which  custom  had  rendered  vague  and  unfit  for  tlie  pui-poses  of  an 
accurate  and  discriminating  mind. 

These  remarks  refer  here  particularly  to  the  words  enlivening  an  d  infonn- 
ing,  especially  tlie  latter,  in  the  sentence,  to  which  this  note  is  attached. 
It  will  give  the  reader  at  least  some  clue  to  the  author's  meaning  and  to  his 
sentiments  on  tliese  subjects,  if  by  the  enlivening  Breath  he  understands 
the  life-giving  Breath  or  Spirit,  and  by  the  informing  word  the  inward 
power  or  principle,  which  in  all  organized  bodies  modifies  the  living  agen- 
cy, appoints  the  measure  of  its  working,  and  determines  the  specific /on/i 
of  its  developement  in  each  several  kind.  This  specific  principle  of  or- 
ganization, which,  as  an  antecedent  law  preexisting  in  the  seed  of  eveiy 
l)lant  and  so  in  the  germs  of  all  organized  bodies,  awaits  the  actuating  pow- 
er of  life,  predetermining  the  several  shapes  or  forms,  in  which  it  is  to  bo 
imfolded,  and  by  which  alone  it  is  manifestable  to  the  senses,  I  understand 
the  author  to  mean  by  the  WORD  ;  and  both  the  actuating,  quickening 
spirit,  and  the  informing  word  belong  to  all  organized  bodies  in  common. 
It  may  perhaps  render  the  charge  of  novelty  and  absurdity  m  regard  to  the 
author's  language  here  and  elsewhere  less  confident  to  remark  m  passing 
that  the  living  and  specific  agencies  here  spoken  of  are  the  inherent yb?7ns 
of  the  Peripatetics,  tlie  ideas  of  Plato  and  Ld.  Bacon,  (divinae  mentis  ideas. 
Nov.  Or.  23  and  51),  and  that  it  is  consonant  with  the  language  of  the  Old 
Testament  to  represent  not  only  the  thoughts,  the  ideas,  but  the  Breath 
and  the  Word  of  the  Divine  Being  as  hving,  formative,  creative.  Thus 
too,  in  reference  to  tlie  higher  powers  of  vSj)iritual  life  in  Christians,  our 
Saviour  says  the  ivords  that  I  si)eak  unto  you,  they  are  sjrint,  and  they  are 
Ufe,  i.  e.  have  iji  them  a  livmg  and  life-giving  energy. — Coincident  with 
this  view  of  life,  as  being  not  the  mere  resulting  product  of  independent 
mechanical,  chemical,  or   electrical  ageucJcR,  acting  in  harmony,  but  a  dia- 


NOTES.  253 

tinct,  specific  power,  possessing  itg  own  inherent  principle  of  unity  in  eacli 
organized  body,  and  essentially  independent  of  the  organizations,  which  it 
bodies  forth,  and  from  the  phsenoniena,  i.  e.  the  sensible  appearances  from 
which  its  existence  is  inferred,  Coleridge  interprets  the  vis  plastica,  or  vis 
vitae  fomiatiTX  of  the  elder  physiologists,  the  Bildungstrieb,  or  nisus  fbr- 
mativus  of  Blumenbach,  and  the  life,  or  living  principle  of  John  Hunter. 
"  For  in  what  other  sense,"  he  remarks  in  a  note  to  the  Friend,  vol.  3. 
p.  214,  "  can  tve  understand  either  his  assertion,  that  this  principle  or  agent 
is  'independent  of  organization,'  which  yet  it  animates,  sustains  and  re- 
pairs, or  the  purport  of  that  magnificent  commentary  on  his  system,  the 
Hunterian  Musaeum  in  Lincohi's  Inn  Fields.  The  Hunterian  idea  of  a 
life  or  vital  principle  'independent  of  the  organization,'  yet  in  each  organ 
working  instinctively  towards  its  preservation,  as  the  ants  or  termites  in  re- 
pairing the  nests  of  then'  own  fabrication,  demonstrates,  tliat  John  Hunter 
did  not,  as  Stahl  and  othei-s  had  done,  individualize,  or  make  an  hyposta- 
sis of  the  principles  of  fife,  as  a  somewhat  manifestable  per  se  and  conse- 
quently itself  a  phaenomenon  ;  the  latency  of  which  was  to  be  attributed  to 
accidental,  or  at  least  contingent  causes,  ex.  gr.  the  hmits  or  unperfection 
of  our  senses,  or  the  inaptness  of  the  media ;  but  that  herein  he  philoso- 
phized in  the  spirit  of  the  purest  Newtonians,  who  in  like  manner  refused 
to  hypostatise  the  law  of  gravitation  into  an  ether,  which  even  if  its  exis- 
tence were  conceded,  would  need  another  gi'avitation  for  itself.  "  The 
Hunterian  position  is  a  genuine  philosophic  IDEA." 

It  would  i)erhaps  have  been  out  of  place  here  to  occupy  even  so  much 
space  hi  explaining  the  author's  views  of  the  philosophy  of  life,  but  that 
the  same  mode  of  philosophizing  is  applied  by  him  to  those  higher  pow- 
ers and  principles  of  our  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  being,  by  which  we 
are  made  to  differ  in  kind  from  the  inferior  forms  of  vegetable  and  animal 
organization.  If  the  reader  clearly  apprehends  the  laiv  of  life,  as  a  living 
power  or  agency,  antecedent  to  and  independent  of  the  visiljle  and  tan- 
gible forms,  which  it  constructs,  he  will  have  little  difficulty  in  understand- 
ing what  is  said  of  the  transfusion  of  a  higher  gift  and  specially  inljreath- 
ed,  of  a  soul,  having  its  hfe  in  itself,  and  mdependeut  for  its  subsistence 
of  the  mferior  powers,  with  which  it  co-exists.  He  will  be  prepared  to 
apprehend  at  least  the  meaning  of  the  doctrine,  that  distinct  specific  forms 
or  laws  of  being  are  superadded  to  that  life,  which  is  common  to  all,  each 
havuig  its  own  developement,  and  by  their  living  agency  constituting  our 
intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  hfe.  But  the  work  itself  will  develope  the 
author's  views  on  this  subject  more  fully  ;  and  for  some  parts  of  it  more 
particularly  important  in  this  connexioji  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  29th 
note  and  the  references  there  made.  The  50th  note,  and  the  6th  and  7th 
Essays  of  the  Friend,  vol.  3,  will  also  aid  in  the  more  full  understandmg 
of  the  whole  subject  of  this  note-.— Am.  Ejj.] 


254 


AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 


[4]  p.  4. 

Quod  stcU  ^iibtus,  that  which  stands  beneath,  and  (as  it  were)  supports,  the 
appearance.  In  a  language  like  ours,  where  so  many  words  are  derived 
from  other  languages,  there  are  few  modes  of  instruction  more  useful  or 
more  amusing  than  that  of  accustoming  young  people  to  seek  for  the  ety- 
mology, or  primary  meaning,  of  the  words  they  use.  There  are  cases, 
in  which  more  knowledge  of  more  value  may  be  conveyed  by  the  history 
of  a  word,  than  by  the  history  of  a  campaign. 

[5]  p.  5. 

I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess  that  I  dislike  the  frequent  use  of  the  word 
virtue  instead  of  righteousness,  in  the  pulpit :  and  that  in  prayer  or  preach- 
ing before  a  Christian  community,  it  sounds  too  much  like  Pagan  Phi- 
losophy. The  passage  in  St.  Peter's  epistle,  is  the  only  scripture  authority 
that  can  be  pretended  for  its  use,  and  I  think  it  right,  therefore,  to  notice, 
tliat  it  rests  either  on  an  oversight  of  the  translators,  or  on  a  change  in  the 
meaning  of  the  word  shice  their  time. 

[6]  p.  5. 

The  effects  of  a  zealous  ministry  on  the  intellects  and  acquirements  of 
the  labop.ring  classes  are  not  only  attested  by  Baxter,  and  the  Presbyterian 
divines,  but  admitted  by  Bishop  Burnet,  who,  during  his  mission  in  the 
West  of  Scotland,  was  "amazed  to  find  a  poor  connnonalty  so  able  to  ar- 
gue," &c.  But  wc  need  not  go  to  a  sister  Church  for  proof  or  example. 
The  diffusion  of  light  and  knowledge  through  this  kingdom,  by  the  exer- 
tions of  the  bishops  and  clergy,  by  Episcopalians  and  Puritans,  from  Ed- 
ward VI.  to  the  restoration,  was  as  wonderful  as  it  is  praiseworthy,  and 
may  be  justly  placed  among  the  most  remarkable  facts  of  history. 

[The  following  extract  from  the  Authors  second  Lay  Sermon,  p.  88 — 91, 
may  suggest  some  useful  reflections  respecting  the  difference  between  the 
rehgious  character  of  the  age  here  refeiTed  to,  and  that  of  our  own. — Am. 
Ed.] 

"As  my  first  presumptive  proof  of  a  difference  (I  might  almost  have 
said,  of  a  contrast)  between  the  religious  character  of  the  period  since  the 
Revolution,  and  that  of  the  period  from  the  accession  of  Edward  tlie  Sixth 
to  the  abdication  of  the  second  James,  I  refer  to  the  Sermons  and  to  the 
tlieological  Works  generall)^,  of  the  latter  period.  It  is  my  full  conviction, 
that  in  any  half  dozen  Sermons  of  Dr.  Donne,  or  Jeremy  Taylor,  there 
are  more  thoughts,  more  facts  and  images,  more  excitements  to  inquiry 
and  intellectual  effort,  than  are  presented  to  the  congirgations  of  the  pre- 
sent day  in  as  many  churches  or  meetings  during  twice  as  many  months. 
Yet  both  these  were  the  most  popular  preachers  of  their  times,  were  heard 
with  enthusiasm  by  crowded  and   promiscuous  Audiences,   and  the  effect 


NOTES.  255 

produced  by  their  eloquence  was  held  in  reverential  and  affectionate  re- 
membrance by  many  attendants  on  their  mmistry,  who,  like  the  pious  Isaac 
Walton,  were  not  themselves  men  of  learning  or  education.  In  addition 
to  this  fact,  thmk  hkewise  on  the  large  and  numerous  editions  of  massy, 
closely  printed  folios :  the  impressions  so  large  and  the  editions  so  numer- 
ous, that  all  the  industry  of  destruction  for  the  la.st  hundred  years  has  but 
of  late  sufficed  to  make  them  rare.  From  the  long  hst  select  those  works 
alone,  which  we  know  to  have  been  the  most  current  and  favorite  works 
of  their  day :  and  of  these  again  no  more  than  may  well  be  supposed  to 
have  had  a  place  in  the  scantiest  libraries,  or  perhaps  with  the  Bible  and 
Common  Prayer  Book  to  have  formed  the  library  of  their  owner.  Yet  on 
the  single  shelf  so  filled  we  should  find  almost  every  possible  question, 
that  could  interest  or  instruct  a  reader  whose  whole  heart  was  in  his  reli- 
gion, discussed  with  a  command  of  intellect  tliat  seems  to  exhaust  all  the 
learning  and  logic,  all  the  historical  and  moral  relations,  of  each  several 
subject.  The  very  length  of  the  discourses,  with  which  these  "rich  souls 
of  wit  and  knowledge"  fixed  the  eyes,  ears,  and  hearts  of  tlieir  crowded 
congregations,  are  a  source  of  wonder  now-a-days,  and  (we  may  add)  of 
self-congratulation,  to  many  a  sober  Christian,  who  forgets  with  what  de- 
light he  himself  has  listened  to  a  two  hour's  harangue  on  a  Loan  or  Tax, 
or  at  the  tiial  of  some  remarkable  cause  or  culprit.  The  transfer  of  the 
interest  makes  and  explains  the  whole  difference.  For  though  much  may 
be  fairly  charged  on  the  revolution  in  the  mode  of  preacliing  as  well  glh 
in  the  matter,  since  the  fi*esh  morning  and  fervent  noon  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, when  there  was  no  need  to  visit  tiio  conventicles  of  fanaticism  in  or- 
der to 

See  God's  ambassador  in  the  pulpit  stand, 

Where  they  could  take  notes  fi*om  liis  Look  and  Hand  ; 

And  from  his  speaking  action  bear  away 

More  sermon  than  our  preachers  used  to  say  ; 

yet  this  too  must  be  refeiTcd  to  the  same  change  in  the  habits  of  men's 
minds,  a  change  that  involves  both  the  shepherd  and  the  flock :  tliough 
like  many  other  Effects,  it  tends  to  reproduce  and  strengthen  its  own 
cause." 

[7]  p.  7. 

The  following  sonnet  was  extracted  by  me  from  Herbert's  Temple,  in  a 
work  long  since  out  of  print,  for  the  purity  of  the  language  and  the  fulness 
of  the  sense.  But  I  shall  be  excused,  I  trust,  in  repeating  it  here  for  higlier 
merits  and  with  higher  purposes,  as  a  forcible  comment  on  the  words  in 
the  text. 


256  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Graces  voucJisa/ed  in  a  Christian  Land. 

Lord  !  with  what  care  liast  thou  begirt  us  round  ! 

Parents  fii'st  season  us.     Then  schoohnastera 

Dehver  us  to  laws.     They  send  us  bound 

To  rules  of  reason.     Holy  messengers  ; 

Pulpits  and  Sundays  ;  sorrow  dogging  sin  ; 

Afflictions  sorted ;  anguish  of  all  sizes  ; 

Fine  nets  and  stratagems  to  catch  us  in ! 

Bibles  laid  open  ;  millions  of  sin-prises  ; 

Blessings  beforehand  ;  ties  of  gi-atefuhiess ; 

The  sound  of  glory  ringing  in   our  ears : 

Without,  our  shame  ;  within,  our  consciences  ;  ^ 

Angels  and  grace  ;  eternal  hopes  and  fears  ! 

Yet  all  these  fences,  and  their  whole  array, 

One  cunning  bosom  sin  blows  quite  away. 

[8]  p.  9. 

See  the  epistle  of  St.  James,  c.  i.  v.  26,  27.  where,  in  the  authorized 
version,  the  Greek  word  ■9i>t;gy.(ia  is  falsely  rendered  religion:  whetlier 
by  mistake  of  the  translator,  or  from  the  intended  sense  having  become 
obsolete,  I  cannot  decide.  At  all  events,  for  the  English  reader  of  our 
times  it  has  the  effect  of  an  eiToneous  translation.  It  not  only  obscures 
the  connexion  of  the  passage,  and  weakens  the  pecuHar  force  and  sublimi- 
ty of  the  thought,  rendering  it  comparatively  flat  and  trivial,  almost  indeed 
tautological,  but  has  occasioned  this  particular  verse  to  be  pei-verted  into 
a  support  of  a  veiy  dangerous  error ;  and  the  whole  epistle  to  be  consid- 
ered as  a  set-off  against  the  epistles  and  declarations  of  St.  Paul,  instead 
of  (what  in  fact  it  is  ),  a  masterly  comment  and  confirmation  of  the  same. 
I  need  not  infonn  the  religious  reader,  that  James,  c.  i.  v.  27.  is  the  favour- 
ite text  and  most  boasted  authority  of  those  divines  who  represent  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  world  as  little  more  than  a  moral  reformer,  and  the  Chris- 
tian faith  as  a  code  of  ethics,  differing  from  the  moral  sj'stem  of  Moses  and 
the  prophets  by  an  additional  motive  ;  or  rather,  by  the  additional  strength 
and  clearness  which  the  historical  fact  of  tiie  resurrection  has  given  to  the 
same  motive. 

[9]  p.  10. 

The  Greek  word  fyinTo,  unites  in  itself  the  two  senses  of  hegan  to  exist 
and  tvas  made  to  exist.  It  exemplifies  the  force  of  the  middle  voice,  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  verb  reflex.  In  answer  to  a  note  on  John  i.  2.  in  the  uni- 
tarian vei-sion  of  the  New  Testament,  I  think  it  worth  noticing,  that  the 
same  word  is  used  in  the  ^'ory  same  sense  by  Aristophanes  in  that  famous 
parody  on  the   cosmojjonies  of  the  Mythic  poets,   or  the   creation  of  the 


NOTES.  257 

finite,  as  delivered,   or  supposed  to  be   delivered,  in  the   Cabiric  or  Sanio- 
thracian  mysteries,  in  the  Comedy  of  the  Birds. 

»y«»«T'  OvQcivos  Sixsatog  re 


KaiF}]. 


[10]   p.  10. 

James  C.  i.  v.  i  Ss  naoaxvipag  ngvouovri?.itov  rov  rt;;  tXtv^iQictc.  The  Greek 
word,  parakupsas,  signifies  the  incurvation  or  bending  of  the  body  in  the 
act  of  looking  doum  into  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  endeavor  to  see  the  re- 
flected image  of  a  star  in  the  water  at  the  bottom  of  a  well.  A 
more  happy  or  forcible  word  could  not  have  been  chosen  to  express  the 
nature  and  ultimate  object  of  reflection,  and  to  enforce  the  necessity  of  it, 
in  order  to  discover  the  living  fountain  and  spring-head  of  the  evidence  of 
the  Christian  faith  in  the  believer  himself,  and  at  the  same  time  to  pomt 
out  the  seat  and  region,  where  alone  it  is  to  be  found.  Quantum  sutmiSj 
scimus.  That  which  we  find  within  ourselves,  which  is  more  than  oiu*- 
selves,  and  yet  the  ground  of  whatever  is  good  and  permanent  therein,  is 
the  substance  and  life  of  all  other  knowledge. 

N.  B.  The  Familists  of  the  sixteenth  centuiy,  and  similar  enthusiasts 
of  later  date,  overlooked  the  essential  point,  that  it  was  a  law^  and  a  law 
that  mvolved  its  own  end  (rs^.oc),  a  perfect  law  {Tt?.atog)  or  law  that  pei-fects 
or  completes  itself;  and  therefore,  its  obhgations  are  called,  in  reference  to 
human  statutes,  imperfect  duties,  i.  e.  incoercible  from  without.  They 
Overlooked  that  it  was  a  law  that  portions  oid  [Nouog  from  riuw  to  allot,  or 
make  division  of)  to  each  man  the  sphere  and  Umits,  within  which  it  is  to 
be  exercised — which  as  St.  Peter  notices  of  certain  profound  passsages  in 

the  VratingS  of  St  Paul,  (2  Pet.  C.  iii.  v.  16.)  bt  auaditg  xai  agr.nty.roi.  gQt^XdOiv, 
ug  '/.at  Tag  ?.oi:iag  yoatpag,  riQog  rtjv  idiav  uvtvdv  a7Co)?.nur. 

[11]  p.  11. 

In  accordance  with  a  preceding  remark,  on  the  use  of  etymology  in  dis- 
ciphningthe  youthfiil  mind  to  thoughtful  habits,  and  as  consistent  with  the 
title  of  this  work,  'Aids  to  Reflection,'  I  shall  offer  no  apology  for  the  fol- 
lowing and  similar  notes : 

Aphorism,  determinate  position,  from  the  Greek  apo,  from  ;  and  horizeui, 
to  bound,  or  Mmit ;  whence  our  horizon. — In  order  to  get  the  full  sense  of 
a  word,  we  should  first  present  to  our  minds  the  visual  image  that  forms 
its  primary  meaning.  Draw  lines  of  different  colours  round  the  different 
counties  of  England,  and  then  cut  out  each  separately,  as  in  the  common 
play-maps  that  children  take  to  pieces  mid  put  together — so  that  each  dis- 
trict can  be  contemplated  apart  from  the  rest,  as  a  whole  in  itself.  This 
twofold  act  of  circumscribing,   and   detaching,  when   it  is  exerted  by  the 

33 


258  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

niind  on  eubjects  of  reflection  and  reason,  is  to  aphorize,  and  the  reeult  an 
aphorisvu 

[12]  p.  11. 

To  iTojjToy  StpQtjxaoir  et(  noXXuiv  ©fc.-r  Idiorr,rag. — Damasc.  de  Myst.  Egypt,  t. 

e.  They  divided  the  intelligible  into  many  and  several  individualities. 

[13]  p.  11. 

From  ^Liqeatc^  a  wilful  raising  into  public  notice,  an  uplifting  (for  display) 
of  any  particular  opinion  differing  from  the  established  beUef  of  the  church 
at  large,  and  making  it  a  gTound  of  schism,  i.  e.  division,  from  schizein,  to 
cut  off— whence  our  "  scissars"  is  supposed  to  have  been  derived. 

[14]  p.  11. 

I  mean  these  words  in  their  large  and  philosophic  sense  in  relation  to 
'  the  spirit,  or  originating  temper  and  tendency,  and  not  to  any  one  mode  un- 
der which,  or  to  any  one  class,  in  or  by  which,  it  may  be  displayed.  A  sedi- 
tious spirit  may,  (it  is  possible,  though  not  probable)  exist  in  the  council- 
chamber  of  a  palace  as  strongly  as  in  a  mob  in  Palace- Yard  ;  and  a  sec- 
tarian spirit  in  a  cathedral,  no  less  than  in  a  conventicle. 

[15]  p.  11. 

Whereas  Christ's  other  disciples  had  a  breeding  under  him,  St.  Paul  was 
born  an  apostle  ;  not  carved  out,  as  the  rest,  by  degi-ees  and  m  course  of 
time,  but  a  fiisile  apostle,  an  apostle  poured  out  and  cast  in  a  mould.  As 
Adam  was  a  perfect  man  in  an  instant,  so  was  St.  Paul  a  perfect  Christian. 
The  same  spirit  was  the  hghtning  that  melted,  and  the  mould  that  received 
and  shaped  liim.: — Bonne's  Sermons — quoted  from  memory. 

[16]  p.  12. 

From  the  Latin,  converlere — z.  e.  by  an  act  of  the  will  to  turn  towards 
the  true  pole,  at  the  same  time  (for  this  is  the  force  of  the  prepositive  con) 
that  the  underetanding  is  convinced  and  made  aware  of  its  existence  and 
direction*. 

[17]  p.  12. 

The  following  extract  from  Leighton's  Theological  Lectures,  sect.  II. 
cannot  be  introduced  more  to  the  purpose  than  as  a  comment  on  this  sen- 
tence : 

'The  human  mind„ however  stunned  and  weakened  by  the  faU,  still  re- 
tains some  feint  idea  of  the  good  it  has  lost ;  a  kind  of  languid  sense  of  its 
misery  and   indigence,   with  affections  suitable  to   these  obscure  notions* 


NOTES  259 

Ttiis  at  least  is  beyond  all  doubt  and  indisputable,  that  all  men  wish  well 
to  themselves  ;  nor  can  the  mind  divest  itself  of  this  propensity,  without 
divesting  itself  of  its  being.  This  is  what  tlie  schoolmen  mean  when  in 
their  manner  of  expression  they  say,  that  'the  will  [mem.  voluntas,  not  ar- 
bitrium)  is  caiiied  towai'ds  happuiess  not  simply  as  wUlj  but  as  natureJ* ' 

I  venture  to  remark  that  this  positioji,  if  not  more  certainly  would  be 
more  evidently  true,  if  instead  of  beatitudo,  the  word  indolentia,{  t,  e.  free- 
dom from  pain,  negative  happiness)  had  been  used.  But  this  depends  on 
the  exact  meaning  attached  to  the  term  self,  of  which  more  in  another 
place.  One  conclusion,  however,  follows  inevitably  from  the  preceding 
position,  viz.  tliat  this  propensity  can  never  be  legitimately  made  the  prin- 
ciple of  morahty,  even  because  it  is  no  part  or  appurtenance  of  the  moral 
will ;  and  because  the  proper  object  of  the  moral  principle  is  to  limit  and 
control  this  propensity,  and  to  determme  in  what  it  may  be,  and  in  what 
it  ought  to  be,  gratified  ;  while  it  is  the  business  of  philosophy  to  instruct 
the  understanding,  and  the  office  of  religion  to  convince  the  whole  man, 
that  otherwise  than  as  a  regidated,  and  of  course  therefore  a  svbordinale^ 
end,  this  propensity,  innate  and  inalienable  though  it  be,  can  never  be  ro- 
aUzed  or  fllhllled.      T»;»  ^^o.-iouav  .-loi^yvTu  aaaa^nui.  f/  Otoctnuirig, 

[18]  p.  14. 

Logos  in  Greek  signifies  an  intelligible  icord  as  distinguished  from  p»;.««ff, 
a  flowing  or  articulate  sound;  and  it  likewise  signifies  the  understanding,  in 
distinction  from  n«?  (the  pure  reason  )  in  one  direction,  and  from  aia^t-aii 
(the  sense)  in  the  other. 

[19]  p.  15. 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  and  may  ftimish  a  fruitful  subject  for  future 
reflection,  how  nearly  tliis  scriptural  division  coincides  with  the  Platonic, 
which,  commencing  with  the  pnidentiai,  or  the  habit  of  act  and  purpose 
proceeding  from  enlightened  self-interest,  [qui  animi  imperio,  coi-poris 
eervitio,  rerum  auxilio,  in  proprimn  sui  commodum  et  sibi  providus  utitur, 
hunc  esse  prudentem  statuimiis],  ascends  to  the  moral,  i.  e.  to  the  purifying 
and  remedied  virtues  ;  and  seeks  its  summit  in  the  imitation  of  the  Divine 
nature.  In  this  last  division,  answering  to  that  which  we  have  called  the 
Spiritual,  Plato  includes  all  those  inward  acts  and  aspirations,  waitings,  and 
watchings,  which  have  a  growth  in  godlikeness  for  their  immediate  pur- 
pose, and  the  union  of  the  human  soul  with  the  Supreme  Good  as  their 
ultimate  object.  Nor  was  it  altogether  without  gi'ounds  that  several  of 
the  Fathers  ventured  to  believe  that  Plato  had  some  dim  conception  of 
the  necessity  of  a  Divine  JVIediator,  whether  through  some  indistinct  echo 
of  the  patriarchal  faith,  or  some  rajTs  of  light  refracted  from  the  He- 
brew prophets   through  a   Phoenician  medium  (to  which  he   may  possi- 


260  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

bly  have  referred  in  his  phrase,  ^sorraQaSorog  aoipia,  the  wisdom  delivered 
from  God,)  or  by  his  own  sense  of  the  mysterious  contradiction  in  hmnan 
nature  between  the  will  and  the  reason,  the  natural  appetences  and  the  no 
less  innate  law  of  conscience  {Romans  11.  14.  15.)  we  shall  m  vain  attempt 
to  determine.  It  is  not  impossible  that  all  three  may  have  co-operated  in 
I)aitially  unveiling  these  awful  truths  to  tliis  plank  from  the  wreck  of  par- 
adise thrown  on  the  shores  of  idolatrous  Greece,  to  this  Divine  Philoso- 
pher, 

Che  ui  quella  schiera  ando  piu  presso  al  segno 
Al  qual  aggiunge,  a  chi  dal  cielo  e  dato. 

Petrarch,  Del  Triunfo  ddla  Fama,  Cap.  III.  I.  5,  6. 

{20]  p.  18. 

Apud  Ciceronem  et  Platonem,  ahosque  ejusmodi  scriptores,  multa  sunt 
acute  dicta,  et  leniter  calentia,  sed  in  iis  omnibus  hoc  non  invenio,  Venite 
ad  me,  &c.     [Matt.  vii.  28.] 

[21]  p.  19. 

<J>£i^  Tt  T«Twv  xaQfici  fttitov  av  Xa^oic, 

[22]  p.  21. 

(The  reference  to  this  note  was  accidentally  omitted  at  the  end  of  Aph- 
orism 6th.) 

[A  few  remarks  have  been  made  in  the  Introduction  and  in  the  3d  note 
respecting  the  peculiai'ities  of  Coleridge's  language  ;  but  so  much  has  been 
said  by  many,  with  whom  I  have  had  occasion  to  converse,  respecting  his 
faults  in  this  particular,  that  I  would  gladly  induce  the  readers  of  tliis  work 
to  give  a  more  special  attention  to  his  own  views  of  propriety  in  tlie  use  of 
language,  as  exliibited  in  the  Aphorisms,  with  which  this  note  is  connected, 
and  in  other  passages  referred  to  below.— My  own  opuiion  is,  that  no  wii- 
ter  in  the  language,  with  whose  works  I  have  been  acquainted,  uses  words 
with  more  ;  precision,  or  adheres  more  strictly  to  the  fixed  and  pemianent 
laws  of  language.    No  one  writes  with  a  more  habitual  and  present  appre- 
Iiension  of  the  precise  import  of  eveiy  term,  which  he  employs,  or  more 
seldom  gives  his  own  intellect  or  that  of  his  reader  the  indulgence  of 
vague  and  general  expressions.    The  faults  of  his  language,  if  faults  they 
be,  are  such  as  might  be  expected  fi'om  one, — who  has  been  accustomed  to 
think  with  unsparing  effort,  to  mark  with  keen  and  philosophical  discrimi- 
nation the  differences  of  things, — who  is  at  the  same  time  familiar  with  the 
powers  of  other  and  better  languages,  and  with  the  distinctions  of  thought, 
which  they  express,  and  who,  knowing  the  full   powers  of  his  own,  is  de- 
termhied  to  exhaust  them  in  recording  the  results  of  his  analysis,  and  giv- 


NOTES.  261 

ing  expression  to  the  subtlest  fonns  of  thought. — In  most  cases,  where 
liis  use   of  language  may  at  first  seem  wholly  unauthorized,   it  will  be 
found,  that  he  has  derived  it  from  those  profound  thinkers  and  unrival- 
led masters  of  language,  the  great  English  Philosophers  and  Divines  of 
the  17th  Century.    Now,  I  ask,  is  he  not  right  in  recurring  to  them  and 
recalling  their  language,  if  what  he  believes  be  true,  that  aside   from  the 
nomenclature  of  the   sciences,  the   interests  of  the  language  at  large  fall 
under  the  special  guardianship  of  logic  and  rational  psychology,  and  that 
from  the  revolution  downward  these  have  been  faUing  into  neglect  or  dis- 
repute ;  that  the  so  called  common  language  of  the  day,  including  even  that 
of  our  popular  metaphysics,  is  but  the  language  of  the  market,  too  vague 
and  ambiguous  to  satisfy  a  mind,  that  would  think  and  reason  in  precise 
and  steadfast  terms.    If  this  be  true,  and  if,  as  he  also  beheves,  the  great 
and  leading  principles  of  philosophy  adopted  in  that  age,   and  as  it  were 
incorporated  in  the   language  of  its  distinguished  ^mters,  were  far  more 
rational  and  spiritual  than  those,  which  now  prevail,  I  see  not  how  he 
could  adopt  a  less  offensive  or  a  simpler  method  for  recallmg  their  philoso- 
phy, than  to  recall  and  explain  their  language.    The  only  way  to  under- 
stand their  philosophy  or  his,  is  by  understanding  the  tenns,  m  which  it  ia 
taught,  and  till  we  do  both,  we  are  not  competent  to  judge  between  his 
views  and  those,  which  are  now  so  popular  among  us.     If  his  philosoph- 
ical or  theological  views  be  fomid  false  or  absurd,  let  them  be  rejected,  or 
if  the  metaphysical  distinctions,  on  which  he  insists,  can  be  sho^vn  to  be 
idle  and  fiiiitless,  let  them  be  treated  as  they  deserve  ;  but  no  one  can  pro- 
nomice  judgment  upon  them  without  at  least  a  serious  effort  to  understand 
them.    His  ^vritings,  moreover,  are  now  acquiring  too  much  authority  and 
influence  among  men  of  sound  and  sober  thinldng  to  be  treated  with  neg- 
lect, and  wherever  his  philosophical  views  are  adopted,  his  use  of  language 
will  be  foimd  rational  and  skilfully  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
case.     But  I  have  introduced  these  remarks  not  with  a  view  to  discuss  the 
subject  myself  so  much  as  to  engage  the  special  and  candid  attention  of 
the  reader  to  the  author's  own  remarks,  which  will  be  found  in  different 
parts  of  the  work,  but  especially  in  the  second  letter  of  a  selection  fi-om 
his  Literary  CoiTcspondence  republished  at  the  end  of  the  Volume. — Am. 
Ed.] 

[23]  p.  25. 

[The  relation  of  prudence  to  morahty,  and  the  essential  difference  in 
kind  between  the  laws  of  duty,  existing  a  priori  in  the  reason  and  con- 
science, and  the  maxhns  of  interest,  formed  by  the  understanding  from  the 
results  of  experience,  are  exliibited  more  at  large  in  the  Aphorisms,  wliich 
immediately  follow,  and  the  Reflections  concerning  morality  in  the  next 
section  of  the  work.  It  may  not  be  improper,  however,  here  to  forewarn 
the  reader,  that  m  order  to  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  author's  views  of 


4^ 


■jlV 


^ 


262  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

this  subject  iii  all  tlieir  important  bearmgs,  and  also  of  the  relation  of  mo- 
rality to  religious  principle  and  faith,  he  must  first  have  some  knowledge  of 
his  metaphysical  system  and  of  the  meanings,  with  which  he  has  connect- 
ed the  words  reason,  understanding,  free-will,  conscience,  and  other  leading 
terms.  It  will  be  found,  that  he  employs  these  in  a  precise,  exclusive,  and 
steadfast  sense,  not  only  m  this,  but  in  all  his  works,  and  I  may  add,  that 
when  these  are  understood,  and  their  meaning  kept  distinctly  before  the 
mind  in  reading  his  writings,  the  chief  causes  of  obscurity  will  be  remo- 
ved. But  it  would  be  anticipating  too  much,  and  indeed  would  not  be 
possible  in  the  compass  of  a  note,  to  explain  terms,  which  may  be  said  to 
include  his  whole  system.  I  have  spoken  of  them  here  with  a  view  to  di- 
rect the  careful  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
used  throughout  the  work,  and  to  the  explanation  given  by  the  author  both 
in  the  text  and  in  the  extracts  from  his  other  works,  which  will  be  added 
for  the  same  purpose  of  illustration.  When  these  are  understood,  the  rea- 
der will  see  their  application  to  the  whole  subject  of  the  phOosophy  of 
morals, — the  relation  of  moral  rectitude  to  the  understanding,  the  reason, 
the  conscience,  and  the  free-will, — and  the  nature  of  the  difference  between 
the  principles  of  moral  obligation  taught  here,  and  those  generally  recei- 
ved among  us,  whether  from  Paley  or  Brown.  In  the  mean  time  the  fol- 
lowing remarks  upon  the  system  of  Dr.  Paley,  and  the  discussion  of 
his  doctrine  of  general  consequences  will  less  require  an  acquaintance  with 
the  author's  general  system,  to  render  them  intelhgible,  and  from  the  great 
importance  of  the  subject,  and  the  value  of  the  extracts,  I  hope  will  not 
be  thought  out  of  place  in  this  work.  The  first  extract  is  from  Coleridge's 
second  Lay  Sermon,  p,  69 — 7],  note. 

"In  the  magnitude  and  awfuhiess  of  its  objects  alone,  the  late  Dr.  Paley, 
by  a  use  of  terms  altogether  arbitrary,  places,  the  distinction  between  Pru- 
dence and  ^iitue,  the  former  being  self-love  in  its  application  to  the  sum  of 
pain  and  pleasure  that  is  hJcely  to  result  to  us,  as  the  consequence  of  our 
actions,  in  the  present  hfe  only  ;  while  the  latter  is  the  same  self-love,  that 
together  with  the  present  consequences  of  our  actions,  takes  in  likewise 
the  more  important  enjoyments  or  sufferings  which,  according  as  we  obey 
or  disobey  His  known  commands,  God  has  promised  to  bestow,  or  tlu'eat- 
ened  to  inflict,  on  us  in  the  hfe  to  come.  According  to  this  writer,  it  be- 
comes the  duty  of  a  rational  free  agent  (it  would  be  more  pertinent  to  say, 
of  a  sentient  animal  capable  of  Forecast)  to  reduce  his  Will  to  an  habitual 
coincidence  with  his  Reason,  on  no  other  ground,  but  because  he  believes 
that  God  is  able  and  determmed  either  to  gratify  or  to  torment  him.  Thus, 
the  great  principle  of  the  Gospel,  that  we  are  bound  to  love  our  neighboi-s 
as  oui-selves  and  God  above  all,  must,  if  translated  into  a  consistency  with 
this  theory  of  enlightened  Self-love,  run  thus :  On  the  ground  of  our  fear 
of  torment  and  our  expectation  of  pleasure  from  an  iufinitely  poweiful 
Being,  we  are  under  a  prudential  obligation  of  acting  towards  our  neigh- 


Ik 


NOTES.  2G3 

boura  aa  if  we  loved  them  equally  ^ith  ourselves  ;  but  ultimately  and  in 
very  truth  to  love  oui*selves  only.  And  this  is  the  Work,  this  the  System 
of  moral  and  political  Philosophy  cited  as  highest  authority  in  our  Senate 
and  Courts  of  Judicature  !  And  (still  worse  !)  this  is  the  Text-Book  for  the 
moral  Lectures  at  one  of  our  Universities,  justly  the  most  celebrated  for 
scientific  ardor  and  manly  thmking.  'Tis  not  without  a  pang  of  fihalsoiTOw 
that  the  Writer  makes  this  acknowledgement,  which  nothing  could  have 
extorted  from  kim  but  the  strongest  conviction  of  the  mischievous  and  de- 
basing tendencies  of  that  wide-spread  system,  in  which  the  Works  of  Dr. 
Paley  (his  Sermons  excepted)  act  not  the  less  pernicious  part,  because  the 
most  decorous  and  plausible.  The  fallacious  sophistry  of  the  grounding 
principle  in  this  whole  system  has  been  detected  by  Des  Cartes,  and  Bish- 
op Butler :  and  of  late  years,  with  great  abihty  and  originahty,  by  Mr.  W. 
Hazlitt." 

[The  following  comprises  nearly  all  of  the  llth  Essay  in  the  second  Vol- 
ume of  the  Friend :] 

"The  doctrine  of  General  Consequences,  as  the  chief  and  best  crite- 
rion of  the  right  or  \a  rong  of  particular  actions,  I  conceive  to  be  neither 
tenable  in  reason  nor  safe  in  practice  :  and  the  following  are  the  groimda 
of  my  opmion. 

Fu-st ;  this  criterion  is  purely  ideal,  and  so  far  possesses  no  advantages  over 
the  former  systems  of  morality :  while  it  labours  under  defects,  with  which 
those  are  not  justly  chargeable.  It  is  ideal :  for  it  depends  on,  and  must 
vary  with,  the  notions  of  the  individual,  who  in  order  to  determme  the  na- 
ture of  an  action  is  to  make  the  calculation  of  its  general  consequences. 
Here,  as  in  all  other  calculation,  the  result  depends  on  that  faculty  of  the 
soul  in  the  degrees  of  which  men  most  vaiy  from  each  other,  and  which 
is  itself  most  affected  by  accidental  advantages  or  disadvantages  of  educa- 
tion, natural  talent,  and  acquired  knowledge — the  faculty,  I  mean,  of  fore- 
sight and  systematic  comprehension.  But  surely  morality,  which  is  of 
equal  importance  to  all  men,  ought  to  be  gi'ounded,  if  possible,  in  that  part 
of  our  nature  which  in  all  men  may  and  ought  to  be  the  same  :  in  the 
conscience  and  the  common  sense.  Secondly :  this  criterion  confounds 
morality  with  law ;  and  when  the  author  adds,  that  m  all  probability  the 
divine  Justice  will  be  regulated  in  the  final  judgment  by  a  similar  rule,  he 
draws  away  the  attention  fi-om  the  wUl,  that  is,  from  the  inward  motives 
and  impulses  wiiich  constitute  the  essence  of  morality,  to  the  outward  act : 
and  thus  changes  the  viitue  commanded  by  the  gospel  into  the  mere  le- 
gahty,  which  was  to  beenlivenedby  it.  One  of  the  most  pei-suasive,  if  not 
one  of  the  strongest,  arguments  for  a  future  state,  rests  on  the  belief,  that 
although  by  the  necessity  of  things  our  outward  and  temporal  welfare  must 
be  regulated  by  our  outward  actions,  which  alone  can  be  the  objects  and 
guides  of  human  law,  there  must  yet  needs  come  a  juster  and  more  ap- 
propriate sentence   hereafter;  in  which  our  interdions  will  be  considered, 


264  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

and  our  happiness  and  miseiy  made  to  accord  with  the  grounds  of  our 
actions.  Our  fellow-creatuves  can  only  judge  what  we  are  by  what  we 
do  ;  but  in  the  eye  of  our  Maker  what  we  do  is  of  no  worth,  except  as  it 
flows  from  what  we  are.  Though  the  fig-tree  should  produce  no  visible 
fruit,  yet  if  the  living  sap  is  in  it;  and  if  it  has  struggled  to  put  forth  buda 
and  blossoms,  which  have  been  prevented  from  maturing  by  ine^^Ltable 
contingencies  of  tempests  or  untimely  fi'osts,  the  virtuous  sap  will  be  ac- 
counted as  fruit :  and  the  curse  of  barrenness  will  light  on  many  a  tree, 
from  the  boughs  of  which  hundreds  have  been  satisfied,  because  the  om- 
niscient judge  knows  that  the  fruits  were  threaded  to  the  boughs  artificial- 
ly by  the  outward  working  of  base  fear  and  selfish  hopes,  and  were  nei- 
ther nourished  by  the  love  of  God  or  of  man,  nor  grew  out  of  the  graces 
engrafl;ed  on  the  stock  by  religion.  This  is  not,  indeed,  all  that  is  meant 
in  the  apostle's  use  of  the  word,  faith,  as  the  sole  principle  of  justifica- 
tion, but  it  is  included  in  his  meaning  and  forms  an  essential  part  of  it — 
and  I  can  conceive  nothing  more  gi'oundless,  than  the  alarm,  that  this  doc- 
trine may  be  prejudicial  to  outward  utility  and  active  well-doing.  To  sup- 
pose that  a  man  should  cease  to  be  henejlcent  by  becoming  benevolent,  seems 
to  me  scarcely  less  absurd,  than  to  fear  that  a  fire  may  prevent  heat,  or 
that  a  perennial  fountain  may  prove  the  occasion  of  drought.  Just  and 
generous  actions  may  proceed  from  bad  motives,  and  both  may,  and  often 
do,  originate  in  parts  and  as  it  were  fragments  of  our  nature.  A  lascivious 
man  may  sacrifice  half  his  estate  to  rescue  his  friend  from  prison,  for  he 
is  constitutionally  sympathetic,  and  the  better  part  of  his  nature  happened 
to  be  uppermost.  The  same  man  shall  afterwards  exert  the  same  disre- 
gard of  money  in  an  attempt  to  seduce  that  friend's  wife  or  daughter.  But 
faith  is  a  total  act  of  the  soul :  it  is  the  icTiole  state  of  the  mind,  or  it  is  not 
at  all !  and  in  this  consists  its  power,  as  well  as  its  exclusive  worth. 

This  subject  is  of  such  immense  importance  to  the  Avelfare  of  all  men, 
and  the  understanding  of  it  to  the  present  tranquiUity  of  many  thousands 
at  this  time  and  in  this  country,  that  should  there  be  one  only  of  all  my 
Readers,  who  should  receive  conviction  or  an  additional  light  fi'om  what  is 
here  written,  I  dare  hope  that  a  gi'eat  majority  of  the  rest  would  in  consid- 
eration of  that  solitary  effect  think  these  paragraphs  neither  wholly  uninter- 
esting or  altogether  without  value.  For  this  cause  I  will  endeavour  so  to 
explain  this  principle,  that  it  may  be  intelligible  to  the  simplest  capacity. 
The  apostle  tells  those  who  would  substitute  obedience  for  faith  (addres- 
sing the  man  as  ol)edience  personified)  ^^Knoiv  that  thou  bearest  not  the  Root 
hut  the  ROOT  thee^^ — a  sentence  which,  methinks,  should  have  rendered 
sdl  disputes  concerning  faith  and  good  works  mipossible  among  those  who 
profess  to  take  the  Scriptures  for  their  guide.  It  would  appear  incredible, 
if  the  fact  were  not  notorious,  that  two  sects  should  ground  and  justify 
their  opposition  to  each  other,  the  one  on  the  words  of  the  apostle,  that 
we  are  justified  by  faith,  i.  e.  the  inward  and  absolute  ground  of  our  ac- 


NOTES.  265 

tions  ;  and  the  other  on  the  declaration  of  Christ,  that  he  will  judge  us  ac- 
cording to  our  actions.  As  if  an  action  could  be  either  good  or  bad  dis- 
joined from  its  principle  !  as  if  it  could  be,  in  the  christian  and  only  prop- 
er sense  of  the  word,  an  action  at  all,  and  not  rather  a  mechanic  series  of 
lucky  or  unlucky  motions !  Yet  it  may  well  be  worth  the  while  to  shew 
the  beauty  and  hai'mony  of  these  t%vin  truths,  or  rather  of  this  one  gi*eat 
truth  considered  in  its  two  principal  bearings.  God  will  judge  each  man 
before  all  men :  consequently  he  will  judge  us  relatively  to  man.  But 
man  knows  not  the  heart  of  man  ;  scarcely  does  any  one  know  his  own. 
There  must  therefore  be  outward  and  visible  signs,  by  which  men  may 
be  able  to  judge  of  the  inward  state :  and  thereby  justify  the  ways  of 
God  to  their  own  spirits,  in  the  reward  or  punishment  of  themselves  and 
tlieir  fellow-men.  Now  good  works  are  these  signs,  and  as  such  become 
necessaiy.  In  short  there  are  two  pailies,  God  and  the  human  race  :  and 
both  are  to  be  satisfied  !  fii*st,  God,  who  seeth  the  root  and  knoweth  the 
heart:  therefore  there  must  be  taith,  or  the  entire  and  absolute  principle. 
Then  man^  who  can  judge  only  by  the  fi'uits :  therefore  that  faith  must 
bear  fruits  of  rigliteousness,  that  principle  must  manifest  itself  by  actions. 
Bnt  that  which  God  sees,  that  alone  justifies !  What  man  sees,  does  in 
this  life  shew  that  the  justifyuig  principle  may  be  the  root  of  the  thing 
seen  ;  but  in  the  final  judgment  the  acceptance  of  these  actions  will  shew, 
that  this  principle  actually  ivas  the  root.  In  this  world  a  good  life  is  a 
presump^on  of  a  good  man  :  his  ^drtuous  actions  are  the  only  possible,  though 
still  ambiguous,  manifestations  of  his  virtue  :  but  the  absence  of  a  good 
life  is  not  only  a  })resumption,  but  a  proof  of  the  contraiy,  as  long  as  it  con- 
tinues. Good  works  may  exist  without  saving  prmciplcs,  and  therefore 
cannot  contain  in  themselves  the  principle  of  salvation  ;  but  saving  prin- 
ciples never  did,  never  can,  exist  without  good  works.  On  a  subject  of 
such  infinite  importance,  I  have  feared  prolixity  less  than  obscurity.  Men 
often  talk  against  faith,  and  make  strange  monsters  in  their  imagination  of 
those  who  profess  to  abide  by  the  words  of  the  Apostle'  interpreted  liter- 
ally :  and  yet  in  their  ordinary'  feelings  they  themselves  judge  and  act  by  a 
similar  piinciple.  For  what  is  love  without  kind  offices,  wherever  they 
are  possible  ?  (and  they  are  always  possible,  if  not  by  actions  commonly  so 
called,- yet  by  kind  words,  by  khid  looks  ;  and,  where  even  these  are  out 
of  our  power,  by  kind  thoughts  and  fei-vent  prayers !)  yet  what  noble  mind 
would  not  be  ofl'ended,  if  he  were  supposed  to  value  the  serviceable  ofl^ices 
equally  with  the  love  that  produced  them  :  or  if  he  were  thought  to  value 
the  love  for  the  sake  of  the  services,  and  not  tlie  ser\'ices  for  the  sake  of 
the  love  ? 

I  return  to  the  question  of  general  consequences,  cojisidered  as  the  cri- 
terion of  moral  actions.  The  admirer  of  Paley's  System  is  requu-ed  to 
susi^end  for  a  short  time  the  objection,  which,  I  doubt  not,  he  has  already 
made,  that  general  consequences  arc  stated  by   Paley   as  the   criterion  of 

34 


266  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

the  action,  not  of  tlie  agent     I  will  endeavor  to  satisfy  him  on  this  point, 
when  I  have  completed  iny  present  chaui   of  argument     It  has  been 
shewn,  that  this  criterion  is  no  less  ideal  than  that  of  any  fomier  system  : 
that  is,  it  is  no  less  incapable  of  receiving  any  external  experimental  proof, 
co.mpulsoiy  on  the  understandings  of  all  men,  such  as  the  criteria  exhibit- 
ed in  chemistry.     Yet,  unlike  the  elder  Systems  of  Morality,  it  remains  in 
the  world  of  the  senses,  without  deriving  any  evidence  therefrom.     The 
agent's  mind  is  compelled  to  go  out  of  itself  in  order  to  bring  back  conjee- 
tureSy  the  probability  of  which  will  vary  with  the  shrewdness  of  the  mdi- 
vidual.     But  this  criterion  is   not  only  ideal :  it  is  likewise  imaginary.     If 
we  believe  in   a  scheme   of  Providence,  all  actions  alike  work  for  good. 
There  is  not  the  least  ground  for  supposhig  that  the  crimes  of  Nero  were 
less  instrumental  in  biinging  about  our  present  advantages,  than  the  vir- 
tues of  the  Antonines.     Lastly  ;  the  criterion  is  eidier  nugatory  or  false. 
It  is   demonsti'ated,   that  the   only  real  consequences  cannot  be  meant. 
The  individual  is  to  imagine,  what  the  general  consequences  wovld  be,  all 
other  things  remainmg  the  same,  if  all  men  were  to  act  as  he  is  about  to 
act     I  scarcely  need   remind  the  reader,  what  a  source   of  self  delusion 
and  sophistry  is  here  opened  to  a  mind  in  a  state  of  temptation.     Will  it 
not  say  to  itself,  I  know  that  all  men  will  not  act  so  :  and  tlie  immediate 
good  consequences,   which  I  shall  obtain,   are  real  while  the  bad   conse- 
quences are  imaginary  and  improbable  ?     When   the  foundations  of  mo- 
raUty  have  once  been   laid  in  outward  consequences,   it  will  be  in  vain  to 
recall  to  the  mind,  what  the  consequences  would  be,  were  all  men  to  rea- 
son m  the   same  way :  for  the  very  excuse  of  this   mind  to  itself  is,   that 
neither  its  action  nor  its  reasoning  is  likely  to  have  any  consequences  at 
all,  its  immediate  object  excepted.    But  suppose  the  mind  in  its  sanest 
state.    How  cai:i  it  possibly  fonn  a  notion  of  the  nature  of  an  action  con- 
sidered as  indefinitely  multiplied,  unless  it  has  previously  a  distinct  notion 
of  the  nature  of  the  single  action  itself,  which  is  the  multiplicand  ?    If  I 
conceive  a  crovra  multiplied  a  hundred  fold,  the  single  croAvn  enables  me 
to  understand  what  a  hundred   crowns  are  ;  but  how  can  the  notion  hun- 
dred teach  me  w^hat  a  cro\vn  is  ?    For  the  crown  substitute  X.  Y.  or  abra- 
cadabra,  and  my  imagination  may  multiply  it  to  infinity,  yet  remain  as 
much  at  a  loss  as  before.    But  if  there   be  any  means  of  ascertaining  the 
action  m  and  for  itself,  what  further  do  we  want  ?    Would  we  give  light 
to  the  sun,  or  look  at  our  own  fingers  through  a  telescope  ?    The  nature 
of  eveiy  action  is  determined  by  all  its  circumstances  ;  alter  the  circum- 
stances and  a  similar  set  of  motions  may  be  repeated,  but  they  are  no 
longer  the  same  or  similar  action.     What  would  a  surgeon  say,  if  he  were 
advdsed  not  to  cut  off  a  limb,  because  if  all  men  were  to  do  the   same, 
the   consequences   would   be   dreadful?      Would   not  his   answer   be — 
"  Whoever  does  the  same  under  the  same  circimistances,  and  with  the 
same  motives,  wdll  do  right ;  but  if  the  circumstances  and   motives  are 


NOTES.  267 

different,  what  have  I  to  do  with  it  ?"  I  confess  myself  unable  to  divine 
any  passible  use,  or  even  meaning,  in  this  doctrine  of  general  consequen- 
ces, unless  it  be,  that  in  all  our  actions  we  ai-o  bound  to  consider  the  ef- 
fect of  our  example,  and  to  guard,  as  much  as  possible,  against  the  ha- 
zard of  their  l)eing  niisundei-stood.  I  will  not  slaughter  a  lamb,  or  drown 
a  litter  of  kittens  in  the  presence  of  my  child  of  four  years  old,  becauae 
the  child  cannot  tmderstand  my  action,  but  will  undei-stand  tliat  his  Fa- 
ther has  inflicted  pain,  and  taken  aAvay  life  from  beings  that  had  never  of- 
fended him.  All  tills  is  true,  and  no  man  m  liis  senses  ever  thought  oth- 
erwise. But  methhiks  it  is  strange  to  state  that  as  a  criterion  of  morahty, 
which  is  no  more  than  an  accessaiy  aggi-avation  of  an  action  bad  in  its  own 
nature,  or  a  ground  of  caution  as  to  the  mode  and  time  in  which  we  are 
to  do  or  suspend  what  is  in  itself  good  or  iimocent. 

The  duty  of  setting  a  good  example  is  no  doubt  a  most  imjwrtaiit  duty  ; 
but  the  example  is  good  or  bad,  necessary  or  unnecessary,  according  as  the 
action  may  be,  which  has  a  chance  of  being  imitated.  I  once  knew  a 
email,  but  (in  outward  circumstances  at  least)  respectable  congregation, 
four-fiflhs  of  whom  professed  that  tliey  went  to  church  entirely  for  tlie 
example's  sake  ;  m  other  words  to  cheat  each  other  and  act  a  common 
lie  !  These  rational  Christians  had  not  considered,  that  example  may  en- 
crease  the  good  or  evil  of  an  action,  but  can  never  constitute  either.  If  it 
was  a  foolish  thing  to  kneel  when  they  were  not  inwardly  praying,  or  to  sit 
and  listen  to  a  discourse  of  which  they  believed  little  and  cared  notliing, 
tliey  were  setting  a  foohsh  example.  Persons  in  their  respectable  circum- 
stances do  not  think  it  necessary  to  clean  shoes,  tliat  by  their  example  they 
may  encourage  the  shoe-black  in  continuing  his  occupation :  and  Christi- 
anity does  not  tliinic  so  meanly  of  herself  as  to  fear  that  the  poor  and  af- 
flicted will  be  a  whit  the  less  pious,  though  they  should  «ee  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  those,  who  possessed  the  good  thhigs  of  the  present  life,  were 
determined  to  leave  all  the  blessings  of  the  future  for  their  more  humble 
inferiors.  If  I  have  spoken  with  bitterness,  let  it  be  recollected  that  my 
subject  is  hypocrisy. 

It  is  Ukewise  fit,  that  in  all  our  actions  we  should  have  considered  how 
far  they  are  likely  to  be  misunderstood,  and  from  superficial  resemblances 
to  be  confounded  with,  and  so  ajipear  to  authorize,  actions  of  a  very  differ- 
ent character.  But  if  this  caution  be  intended  for  a  moral  rule,  the  misun- 
derstanding must  be  such  as  might  be  made  by  persons  who  are  neither 
very  weak  nor  veiy  wicked.  The  ajiparent  resemblances  between  the 
good  action  we  were  about  to  do  and  tlie  bad  one  which  might  possibly 
be  done  in  mistaken  imitation  of  it,  must  be  obvious :  or  that  which  makes 
them  essentially  different,  must  be  subtle  or  recondite.  For  wliat_,  is  there 
which  a  wicked  man  blinded  by  his  passions  may  not,  and  which  a  mad- 
man will  not,  misunderstand  ?  It  is  ridiculous  to  frame  rules  of  morality  with 
a  view  to  those  who  are  fit  objects  only  for  the  physician  or  the  magis- 
trate. 


268 


AIDS  TO    REFLECTION. 


The  question  may  be  thus  iUustratcd.  At  Florence  there  is  an  unfinished 
bust  of  Brutus,  by  Michael  Angelo,  under  which  a  Cardinal  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing distich : 

Dum  Bruti  effigiem  sculptor  de  marmore  finxit, 
In  mentem  sceleris  venit,  et  abstinuit. 
Jls  the  Sculptor  was  forming  the  effigy  of  Brutus,  in  inarble,  he  recollected  his 

act  of  guilt  and  refrained. 

An  English  Nobleman,  indignant  at  this  distich,  wrote  immediately  mider 
it  the  following : 

Brutum  efRnxisset  sculptor,  sed  mente  recursat 
Multa  viri  virtus :  sistit  et  obstupuit. 
The  Sculptor  would  have  framed  a  Brutus,  hut  the  vast  and  manifold  vitiue  of 
the  man  flashed  upon  his  thought :  he  stopped  and  remmned  in  asto- 
nished admiration. 

Now  which  is  the  nobler  and  more  moral  sentiment,  the  Italian  Cardi- 
nal's, or  the  English  nobleman's  ?  The  Cardinal  would  appeal  to  the  doc- 
trine of  general  consequences,  and  pronounce  the  death  of  Csesar  a  mur- 
der, and  Brutus  an  assassin.  For  (he  woidd  say)  if  one  man  may  be  al- 
lowed to  kill  another  because  he  thinks  him  a  tyrant,  religious  or  political 
phrenzy  may  stamp  the  name  of  tyrant  on  the  best  of  kings :  regicide  will 
be  justified  under  the  pretence  of  tyrannicide,  and  Brutus  be  quoted  as  au- 
thority for  the  Clements  and  Ravaillacs.  From  kings  it  may  pass  to  gene- 
rals and  statesmen,  and  from  these  to  any  man  whom  an  enemy  or  enthu- 
siast may  pronounce  unfit  to  live.  Thus  we  may  have  a  cobler  of  Messi- 
na in  eveiy  city,  and  bravos  in  our  streets  as  common  as  in  those  of  Naples, 
with  the  name  Brutus  on  their  stilettos. 

The  Englishman  would  commence  his  answer  by  commenting  on  the 
words  "because  he  thinks  him  a  tyrant."  No  !  he  would  reply,  not  because 
the  patriot  thinks  him  a  tyrant ;  but  because  he  knows  him  to  be  so,  and 
knows  likevdse,  that  the  vilest  of  his  slaves  cannot  deny  the  fact,  that  he 
has  by  violence  raised  himself  above  the  laws  of  his  country — because  he 
knows  that  all  good  and  wise  men  equally  with  Iiimself  abhor  the  fact ! 
If  there  be  no  such  state  as  that  of  being  broad  awake,  or  no  means  of 
distinguishing  it  when  it  exists ;  if  because  men  sometimes  dream  that 
they  are  awake,  it  must  follow  that  no  man,  when  awake,  can  be  sure  that 
he  is  not  dreaming ;  if  because  an  hypochondriac  is  positive  that  his  legs 
are  cylinders  of  glass,  all  other  men  are  to  learn  modesty,  and  cease  to  be 
so  positive  that  then'  legs  are  legs ;  what  possible  advantage  can  your  crite- 
rion of  GENERAL  CONSEQUENCES  poscss  ovcr  any  other  rule  of  direction? 
If  no  man  can  be  sure  that  what  he  thinks  a  rol>ber  with  a  \nsio\  at  his 
Ijreast  demanding  his  purse,  may  not  be  a  good  friend  enquiring  after  his 


NOTES.  ^  2G0 

health  ;  or  that  a  tyrant  (the  son  of  a  cobler  perhaps,  wlio  at  tlie  head  of 
a  regiment  of  perjured  traitors,  has  driven  the  representatives  of  his  coun- 
try out  of  the  senate  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  subverted  tlie  constitu- 
tion which  had  trusted,  enriched,  and  honoured  him,  trampled  on  the  laws 
which  before  God  and  Man  he  had  sworn  to  obey,  and  finally  raised  him- 
self above  all  law)  may  not,  in  spite  of  his  own  and  his  neighbours'  know- 
ledge of  the  contraiy,  be  a  lawful  kmg,  who  has  received  his  power,  how- 
ever despotic  it  may  be,  from  the  kings  his  ancestors,  wiio  exercises  no 
other  power  than  what  had  been  submitted  to  for  centuries,  and  been  ac- 
knowiedged  as  the  law  of  the  countiy ;  on  what  gi'ound  can  you  possibly 
expect  less  fallibility,  or  a  result  more  to  be  relied  upon  in  the  same  man's 
calculation  of  your  general  consequences  ?  Would  /le,  at  least,  find  any 
difliculty  m  converting  your  criterion  into  an  authority  for  his  act  ?  What 
should  prevent  a  man,  whose  perceptions  and  judgements  are  so  strangely 
distorted,  from  arguing,  that  nothmg  is  more  devoutly  to  be  wished  for,  as 
a  general  consequence,  than  that  eveiy  man,  who  by  violence  places  him- 
self above  the  laws  of  his  country,  should  in  all  ages  and  nations  be  con- 
sidered by  mankind  as  placed  by  his  own  act  out  of  the  protection  of  law, 
and  be  treated  by  them  as  any  other  noxious  wild  beast  would  be  ?  Do 
you  think  it  necessaiy  to  try  adders  by  a  juiy  ?  Do  you  hesitate  to  shoot  a 
mad  dog,  because  it  is  not  in  your  power  to  have  him  fii-st  tried  and  con- 
demned at  the  Old  Bailey  ?  On  the  other  hand,  what  consequence  can  be 
conceived  more  detestable,  than  one  which  would  set  a  bomity  on  the  most 
enormous  crime  m  human  nature,  and  establish  it  as  a  law  of  rehgion  and 
morality  that  the  accomplishment  of  the  most  atrocious  guilt  invests  the  per- 
petrator with  impunity,  and  renders  his  person  forever  sacred  and  inviola- 
ble ?  For  madmen  and  enthusiasts  what  avail  your  moral  criterions  ?  But 
as  to  your  Neapolitan  Bravos,  if  the  act  of  Brutus,  who,  "  In  pity  to  the  general 
wrong  of  Rome,  Sleio  his  best  lover  for  the  good  of  Rome,^^  authorized  by  the 
laws  of  his  country,  in  manifest  opposition  to  all  selfish  interests,  in  the 
face  of  tlie  Senate,  and  instantly  presenting  himself  and  his  cause  fii'st  to 
that  Senate,  and  then  to  the  assembled  Commons,  b}'^  them  to  stand  acquit- 
ted or  condenuied — if  such  an  act  as  this,  with  all  its  vast  out-jutting  cir- 
cumstances of  distinction,  can  be  confounded  by  any  mind,  not  frantic, 
with  the  crune  of  a  cowardly  skulkmg  assassin  who  hires  out  his  dagger 
for  a  few  cro^vns  to  gratify  a  hatred  not  his  own,  or  even  with  the  deed  of 
that  man  who  makes  a  compromise  between  his  revenge  and  his  coward- 
ice, and  stabs  in  the  dark  the  enemy  whom  he  dared  not  meet  hi  the  open 
field  or  summon  before  the  laws  of  his  countiy — what  actions  can  be  so 
different  that  they  may  not  be  equally  confounded  ?  The  aml)ushed  sol- 
dier must  not  fire  his  musquet,  lest  Ms  example  shoidd  be  quoted  by  the 
villain  who,  to  make  sure  of  his  booty,  discharges  his  piece  at  the  luisuspi- 
cious  passenger  from  behind  a  hedge.  The  physician  must  not  adminis- 
ter a  solution  of  arsenic  to  the  leprous,  lest  his  example  should  be  quoted 


270  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

by  professional  poisoners.  If  no  distinction,  full  and  satisfactory  to  the 
conscience  and  common  sense  of  mankind  be  afforded  by  the  detestation 
and  horror  excited  in  all  men,  (even  in  the  meanest  and  most  vicious,  if 
they  are  not  wholly  monsters)  by  the  act  of  the  assassin,  contrasted  witli 
the  fervent  adiiiiration  felt  by  the  good  and  wise  in  all  ages  when  they 
mention  the  name  of  Bnitns  ;  contrasted  with  the  fact  that  the  honour  or 
disrespect  with  whicli  that  name  was  spoken  of,  became  an  historic  crite- 
rion of  a  noble  or  a  base  age  ;  and  if  it  is  in  vain  that  our  own  hearts  an- 
swer to  the  question  of  the  Poet : 

"Is  there  among  the  adamantine  spheres 
Wheeling  imshaken  through  the  boundless  void, 
Aught  that  with  lialf  such  majesty  can  fill 
The  human  bosom,  as  when  Brutus  rose 
Refulgent  from  the  stroke  of  Ctesai-'s  fote 
Amid  the  crowd  of  Patriots ;  and  his  arm 
Aloft  extending,  like  eternal  Jove, 
When  guilt  biings  down  tlie  thunder,  call'd  aloud 
On  TuUy's  name,  and  shook  his  crimson  sword, 
And  bade  the  Father  of  his  Country',  Hail ! 
For  lo  the  Tyrant  prostinite  on  the  dust, 
And  Rome  again  is  free  !" 

If,  I  say,  all  this  be  fallacious  and  insufficient,  can  we  have  any  firmer 
reliance  on  a  cold  ideal  calculation  of  imaginary  general  consequen- 
ces, wliich,  if  they  were  general,  could  not  be  consequences  at  all :  for 
they  would  be  effects  of  the  frenzy  or  frenzied  wickedness,  which  alone 
could  confound  actions  so  utterly  dissimilar  ?  No  !  (would  the  ennobled 
descendant  of  our  Russels  or  Sidneys  conclude)  No !  Calumnious  bigot ! 
never  yet  did  a  human  being  become  an  assassin  from  his  own  or  the  gen- 
eml  admiration  of  the  hero  Brutus  ;  but  I  dare  not  wanant,  that  villains 
might  not  be  encouraged  in  their  trade  of  secret  murder,  by  finding  their 
own  guilt  attributed  to  the  Roman  patriot,  and  might  not  conclude,  that  if 
Brutus  be  no  better  than  an  assassin,  an  assassin  can  be  no  worse  than 
Brutus. 

I  request,  that  the  preceding  be  not  interpreted  as  my  own  judgment  on 
tyrannicide.  I  think  with  Machiavel  and  with  Spinosa,  for  many  and 
weighty  reasons  assigned  by  those  philosophers,  that  it  is  diflScult  to  con- 
ceive a  case,  in  which  a  good  man  would  attempt  tyrannicide,  because  it 
is  difficult  to  conceive  one,  in  which  a  wise  man  woidd  recommend  it.  In 
a  small  state,  included  within  the  walls  of  a  single  city,  and  where  the  ty- 
ranny is  maintained  by  foreign  guards,  it  may  be  othcr^vise  ;  but  in  a  na- 
tion or  empire  it  is  perhaj)s  inconceivable,  that  the  circumstances  which 
made  a  tyranny  possible,  should  not  likewise  render  the  removal  of  the 


NOTES.  271 

tyrant  useless.  The  patriot's  sword  may  cut  off  the  Hydra's  head  ;  but  he 
possesses  no  brand  to  stanch  the  active  coiTuption  of  the  body,  which  is 
sure  to  re-produce  a  successor. 

I  must  now  in  a  few  words  ans^ve^  the  objection  to  the  former  part  of 
my  argument  (for  to  that  part  only  the  objection  apphes,)  namely,  that  the 
doctrine  of  general  consequences  was  stated  as  the  criterion  of  the  action, 
not  of  the  agent.  I  might  answer,  that  the  author  himself  had  m  some 
measure  justified  me  in  not  noticing  this  distinction  hy  holding  forth  the 
probability,  that  the  Supreme  Judge  will  proceed  by  the  same  rule.  The 
agent  may  then  safely  be  mcluded  in  the  action,  if  both  here  and  hereafter 
the  action  only  and  its  general  consequences  will  be  attended  to.  But  my 
main  ground  of  justification  is,  that  tlie  distuiction  itself  is  merely  logical, 
not  real  and  vital.  The  character  of  the  agent  is  determined  by  his  view 
of  the  action :  and  that  system  of  morahty  is  alone  true  and  suited  to  hu- 
man nature,  which  unites  the  intention  and  the  motive,  the  warmth  and 
the  light,  in  one  and  the  same  act  of  mmd.  This  alone  is  worthy  to  be 
called  a  moral  principle.  Such  a  principle  may  be  extracted,  though  not 
without  difliculty  and  danger,  from  the  ore  of  the  stoic  philosophy  ;  but 
it  is  to  be  found  unalloyed  and  entire  in  the  Christian  system,  and  is  there 
called  Faith." 

The  system  of  Paley,  I  am  aware,  is  not  now  so  generally  received  in 
this  countiy,  as  to  call  for  the  very  special  attention  of  the  friends  of  truth  ; 
yet  many  are  still  disposed  to  defend  it,  at  least,  with  such  slight  modifica- 
tions, as  to  show,  that  its  radical  defects  are  not  perceived.  Those,  who 
reject  it  entirely,  do  so  on  different  grounds  from  those  above  presented, 
and  for  the  most  part  adopt  as  a  substitute  the  system  of  Brown,  which,  if 
there  be  any  truth  in  the  doctrines  exhibited  in  this  volume,  is  ahke  radi- 
cally erroneous.  Both  systems  in  fact  have  their  origin  in  nearly  the  same 
general  views  of  the  human  mind — ^views,  which  preclude  the  existence 
of  the  reason  and  free-will,  as  these  powers  are  defined  by  Coleridge,  and 
leave  us  only  those  powers  of  the  understanding  and  of  choice  or  selec- 
tion, which  belong  to  us  in  common  with  the  brutes.  Whether  it  be  pos- 
sible upon  such  a  system  of  what  is  called  the  Philosophy  of  the  human 
mind,  the  adherents  of  which,  not  only  among  professed  Metaphysicians, 
but  among  Naturalists,  and  even  Theologians,,  maintain  in  so  many  words, 
that  we  have  no  powers  differing  in  kind  fi-om  those,  which  belong  to  dogs 
and  horses,  whether,  I  say,  it  be  possible  upon  such  grounds  of  general 
philosophy  to  construct  a  rational  system  of  morals,  to  account  satisfactori- 
ly for  the  difference  between  regret  and  remorse,  to  explain  tlue  difference 
between  things  and  persons,  to  show  why  we  should  not  acknowledge  die 
rights  of  brutes,  and  try  them  by  a  juiy,  and  in  general  to  justify  the  ways 
of  God  to  man,  remains  yet  a  fair  field  for  experiment.  In  the  mean  time 
the  careful  reader  will  find,  if  I  mistake  not,  in  the  metaphysical  views 
contained  in  this  work  materials  for  a  moral  !:<ystem  no  much  move  ration- 


272  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

al  and  satisfying,  so  much  more  consistent  with  our  moral  feehngs  and  our 
idea  of  the  Divine  Being,  as  will  go  far  to  sustain  tlie  truth  of  tliese  views 
themselves.  I  will  barely  remark  farther,  that  the  bearing  of  this  work 
upon  the  ethical  system  of  Browii  will  be  sufficiently  obvious  in  the  sub- 
sequent parts  of  the  volume,  especially  in  the  contradistinction  taught  to 
exist  between  nature  and  the  will,  and  the  relation,  which,  on  this  system, 
moral  rectitude  holds  to  the  will  and  to  tlie  reason. — Am.  Editor.] 

[24]  p.  28. 
Victiu'os  agimiis  semper,  nee  vivimus  unquam. 

[25]  p.  29. 

Spes  spem  excipit,  ambitionem  ambitio,   et  miseriarum   non   quaeritur 
finis,  sed  schema  tantum  mutatur. 

[2G]p.  31. 

This  paragraph  is  abridged  fiom  the  Watchman,  No.  IV.  March  25, 
]  79G ;  respecting  which  the  mquisitive  Reader  may  consult  my  "  Literary 
Life."  S.  T.  C. 

[27]  p.  32. 

There  sometimes  occurs  an  ap})arent  Play  on  words,  which  not  only  to 
the  Moralizer,  but  even  to  tlie  philosophical  Etymologist,  appears  more  than 
a  mere  Play.  Thus  in  the  double  sense  of  the  word,  become.  I  have 
known  persons  so  anxious  to  have  their  Dress  become  them,  so  totus  in  illo, 
as  to  convert  it  at  length  into  their  proper  self,  and  thus  actually  to  become 
the  Dress.  Such  a  one,  (safcliest  spoken  of  by  the  neider  Pronoun),  I  con- 
sider as  but  a  suit  of  live  Finery.  It  is  indifferent  whether  we  say — It  be- 
comes He,  or.  He  becomes  it. 

[28]  p.  34. 

It  might  be  a  mean  of  preventing  many  unhappy  Marriages,  if  the 
youth  of  both  sexes  had  it  early  impressed  on  their  minds,  that  Maniage 
contracted  between  Christians  is  a  true  and  peifect  Symbol  or  Mystery ; 
that  is,  the  actualizing  Faith  being  supposed  to  exist  in  the  Receivers,  it 
is  an  outward  Sign  co-essential  with  that  which  it  signifies,  or  a  living  Part 
of  that,  the  whole  of  which  it  represents.  Marriage  therefore,  in  the 
Christian  sense  (Ephesians  v.  22 — 33),  as  symboUcal  of  the  union  of  the 
Soul  with  Christ  the  Mediator,  and  with  God  through  Christ,  is  perfectly 
a  sacramental  ordinance,  and  not  retained  by  the  Relbrmed  Churches  as 
one  of  THE  Sacraments,  for  two  reasons;  first,  that  the  Sign  is  not  distinc- 
tive of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  the  Ordinance  not  peculiar  nor  owing 
its  origin  to  the  Gospel  Disi)ensation ;  secondly,  it  is  not  of  universal  obU- 


NOTES.  273 

gation,  not  a  means  of  Grace  enjoined  on  all  Christians.  In  other  and 
plainer  words,  Marriage  does  not  contain  in  itself  an  open  Profession  of 
Christ,  and  it  is  not  a  Sacrament  of  the  Church,hut  only  of  certain  Indi- 
vidual members  of  the  Church.  It  is  evident,  however,  tliat  neitlier  of 
these  Reasons  affect  or  dhnhiish  tlie  religious  nature  and  dedicative  force 
of  the  marriage  Vow,  or  detract  from  tlie  solemnity  of  tlie  Apostohc  Dec- 
laration: This  is  a  great  Mystery. 

The  interest,  which  the  State  has  in  the  appropriation  of  one  Woman  to 
one  IMan,  and  the  civil  obligations  therefrom  resultmg,  fonn  an  altogether 
distinct  consideration.  When  I  meditate  on  the  words  of  the  Apos- 
tle, confirmed  and  illustrated  as  they  are,  by  so  many  harmonies  in 
the  Spiritual  Structure  of  our  proper  Humanity,  (in  the  image  of  God, 
male  and  female  created  he  tlie  Man),  and  then  reflect  how  little  claim  so 
large  a  number  of  legal  cohabitations  have  to  the  name  of  Christian 
Mamages — ^I  feel  inclined  to  doubt,  whetlier  the  plan  of  celebrating 
Marriages  univei-sally  by  the  civil  magisti*ate,  in  the  fii-st  instance,  and 
leaving  tlie  religious  Covenant,  and  sacramental  Pledge  to  the'election  of 
the  Parties  themselves,  adopted  during  the  Republic  in  England,  and  in 
our  own  times  by  the  French  Legislature,  was  not  in  fact,  whatever  it 
might  be  in  intention,  reverential  to  Christianity.  At  all  events,  it  was 
their  own  act  and  choice,  if  tlie  Parties  made  bad  worse  by  the  profanation 
of  a  Gospel  Mystery. 

[29]  p.  44. 

Whatever  is  comprized  in  the  Chain  and  Mechanism  of  Cause  and 
Effect,  of  course  necessitated,  and  having  its  necessity  in  some  other  thing, 
antecedent  or  concurrent — ^this  is  said  to  be  JVatural ;  and  the  Aggregate 
and  System  of  all  such  things  is  Nature.  It  is,  therefore,  a  contradiction 
in  terms  to  include  in  this  the  Free-will,  of  which  the  verbal  definition  is 
— that  which  originates  an  act  or  state  of  Being.  In  this  sense  therefore, 
which  is  the  sense  of  St.  Paul,  and  mdeed  of  the  New  Testament  tlirough- 
out,  Spiritual  and  vSuj^ernatural  are  synonymous. 

[The  Comment,  to  which  this  note  is  attached,  exhibits  in  part  the  au- 
thors views  on  certain  subjects,  which  ai*e  felt  and  acloiowledged  to  be  of 
the  utmost  importance,  and  at  the  same  time  exceedingly  difficult  of  expla- 
nation. Whether  there  be  an  essential  difTercnce  between  morality  and 
spiritual  religion — the  mode  of  transition  from  the  one  to  the  other — the 
contradistinguishing  diameter  of  the  will  as  spiritual  and  above  nature — and 
the  possibility  of  such  a  communion  and  co-agency  of  the  Divine  spirit 
with  our  spirits,  as  shall  transform  them  into  the  Divine  image,  consistently 
with  the  idea  of  a  free  will  as  formed  by  the  reason,  are  undoubtedly  sub- 
jects deserving  and  requiring  the  most  serious  and  profound  reflection. 
The  maimer,  in  which  they  are  treated  in  this  work,  if  I  do  not  mistake, 

35 


274  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

will  at  least  have  the  interest  of  novelty  for  most  of  its  readers,  and  can 
hardly  fail  to  give  them  more  satisfaction,  in  regard  to  some  points,  than 
the  authors  generally  resorted  to  among  us  on  suhjects  of  this  sort.  It  will 
at  once  be  obvious,  that  all  these  subjects  are  here  ])resentcd  to  us  in  a  far 
different  point  of  view  from  that,  in  which  they  are  and  must  be  contem- 
plated by  the  disciples  of  Locke,  and  those  who,  with  Brown,  deny  to  man 
any  powers  of  will,  which  are  not  subjected  to  the  law  of  nature,  and  in- 
cluded in  the  mechanism  of  cause  and  effect.  The  difference  in  the  views 
exhibited,  it  will  be  seen  again,  results  from  the  same  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  philosophy,  which  I  have  referred  to  in  fonner  notes,  and  which 
it  will  be  especially  incumbent  on  the  reader  to  understand  in  order  to  a 
full  apprehension  of  the  author's  meaning  here.  To  anticipate  the  most 
important  difficulties,  likely  to  be  felt  by  a  reader  unacquainted  with  the 
system,  I  will  merely  observe,  what  would  not  perhaps  be  learned  distinct- 
ly from  the  previous  parts  of  the  work,  that  according  to  the  author's  views 
and  use  of  language  a  fact  may  be  above  our  understandings,  which  is  not 
inconsistent  with  reason,  and  which  reason  requires  us  to  believe  ;  it  may 
be  inconceivable  under  those  conditions,  which  limit  the  powers  of  con- 
ception in  the  understanding,  and  yet  its  truth  be  discovered  intuitively  by 
the  reason  ;  it  may  be  irrepresentable  under  the  forms  of  time  and  space, 
i.  e.  something,  of  which  neither  extension,  nor  place,  nor  the  attributes  of 
time,  as  before  and  after,  can  be  predicated,  and  yet  its  reality  force  itself  up- 
on our  conviction.  The  distinction  between  these  powers,  and  the  appropri- 
ate offices  of  each,  are  exhibited  by  the  author  in  a  subsequent  part  of  the 
volume  ;  but  if,  for  the  j>resent,  what  has  now  been  said  be  adinitted,  and 
the  definition  of  nature  given  in  his  note  recognized,  the  meaning  of  the 
Comment  will  be  sufficiently  obvious,  and  its  doctrines  seen  to  be  at  least 
free  from  absurdity. 

But  as  the  reader  is  now  entering  upon  those  views  of  the  will  as  super- 
natural, and  of  the  spiritual  powers  of  man  which  constitute  the  groimd 
work  of  the  system,  I  cannot  perhaps  aid  him  more  effectually  than  by  re- 
ferring him,  either  for  his  present  or  future  convenience,  to  those  parts  of 
the  volume  where  they  are  most  clearly  stated.  By  coniparing  different 
passages  together,  one  unacquainted  with  the  system  and  the  meaning  of 
terms  will  gain  more  instruction  than  from  any  illustrations  which  I  could 
furnish.  The  following  passages  have  occurred  to  me  as  having  a  more  or 
less  important  connexion  with  the  leading  principles  mentioned.  It  may 
not  be  expedient  to  anticipate  the  author's  progress  by  reading  them  all  in 
connexion  with  this  Connnent,  but  they  may  be  compared  at  the  reader's 
option.  In  the  text  the  passages  will  be  found  at  j)]).  87 — ^92,  102 — 105, 
132_134,  136—145,  151—156,  ICO— 163,  183—184,  193—194,  205—206, 
211 — 213,  238 — ^246.  Among  the  notes,  the  most  important  in  this  connex- 
ion, are  the  50th,  55th,  (34th,  66di,  67tli,  69th,  and  78tli.  Some  parts  of  the 
appendix,  also,  will  be  found  to  illustratetheaiithor's  views  of  these  subject?. 


NOTES.  375 

The  following  is  inserted  here  from  tlie  Friend,  vol.  3d,  p.  166 — 168* 
"The  word  Nature  has  been  used  in  two  senses,  viz.  actively  and  pas- 
sively; energetic  (zzrfornia  fonnans),  and  material  (=fomia  formata).  In 
the  first  sense  it  signifies  the  inward  principle  of  whatever  is  requisite  for 
the  reality  of  a  tiling,  as  existent:  while  the  esseiice,  or  essential  pro- 
perty, signifies  the  imier  principle  of  all  that  appertains  to  tlie  possibility  of 
a  thing.  Hence,  in  accurate  language,  we  say  the  essence  of  a  mathemati- 
cal circle  or  other  geometrical  figure,  not  the  nature ;  because  in  the  con- 
ception of  forms  purely  geometrical  there  is  no  expression  or  implication 
of  their  real  existence.  In  the  second,  or  material  sense,  of  the  word  NA- 
TURE, we  mean  by  it  the  sum  total  of  all  things,  as  far  as  they  are  objects 
of  our  senses,  and  consequently  of  possible  experience — ^tlie  aggregate  of 
phsenomena,  wiiether  existing  for  our  oiitw  ard  senses,  or  for  our  mner  sense. 
The  doctiine  concerning  material  nature  would  tlierefore,  (tlie  word  Phys- 
iology being  botli  ambiguous  in  itself,  and  already  otherwise  appropriated) 
be  more  properly  entitled  Phoenomenology,  distinguished  into  its  two  grand 
divisions.  Somatology  and  Psychology.  The  doctrine  concerning  energetic 
nature  is  comprised  in  the  science  of  DYNAMICS ;  the  union  of  which 
with  Phaenomenology,  and  die  alliance  of  both  with  the  sciences  of  the 
Possible,  or  of  the  Conceivable,  viz.  Logic  and  Mathematics,  constitute 
NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY."— Am.  Ed.] 

[30]  p.  44. 

Some  distant  and  faint  similitude  of  this,  that  merely  as  a  similitude 
may  be  innocently  used  to  quiet  the  Fancy,  provided  it  be  not  imposed 
on  the  understanding  as  an  analogous  fact  or  as  identical  in  kind,  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  power  of  the  Magnet  to  awaken  and  strengthen  the 
magnetic  power  in  a  bar  of  Iron,  and  (in  tlie  instance  of  the  compomid 
magnet)  acting  in  and  with  the  latter. 

[31]  p.  45. 
"The  River  windeth  at  his  own  sweet  Will." 

Wordsworth's  exquisite  Sonnet  on  Westminster-bridge  at  Sun-rise. 

Bnt  who  does  not  see  that  here  the  poetic  charm  arises  from  the  known 
and  felt  impropriety  of  the  exjiression,  in  the  technical  sense  of  the  word 
impropriety^  among  Grammarians  ? 

[32]  p.  53. 

One  of  the  numerous  proofs  against  those  who  with  a  strange  incon- 
sistency liold  the  Old  Testament  to  have  been  inspired  throughout,  and 
yet  deny  that  the  doctrine  of  a  fiiture  state  is  taught  therein. 


376  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

[33]  p.  57. 
[The  following  is  tlie  passage  refeiTed  to  in  the  Omniana. — Am.  Ed.] 
I  am  firmly  persuaded,  that  no  doctrine  was  ever  widely  diffused  among 
various  nations  through  successive  ages,  and  under  different  religions 
(such  as  is  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,  and  redemption,'those  fundamen- 
tal articles  of  eveiy  known  reUgion  professing  to  be  revealed)  which  is 
not  founded  either  in  the  nature  of  tilings  or  in  the  necessities  of  our  na- 
ture. In  the  language  of  the  schools,  it  carries  with  it  presumptive  evi- 
dence, that  it  is  either  objectively  or  subjectively  true.  And  the  more  strange 
and  contradictoiy  such  a  doctrine  may  appear  to  the  miderstanding,  or 
discursive  faculty,  the  stronger  is  the  presumption  in  its  favour :  for  whatever 
satirists  may  say,  and  sciolists  imagine,  the  human  mind  has  no  predi- 
lection for  absurdity.  I  do  not  however  mean,  that  such  a  doctrine 
shall  be  always  the  best  possible  representation  of  the  truth,  on  which 
it  is  founded,  for  the  same  body  casts  strangely  different  shadows  in 
different  places  and  different  degrees  of  light ;  but  that  it  always  does 
shadow  out  some  such  truth  and  derives  its  influence  over  our  faith  from 
our  obscure  perception  of  that  truth.  Yea,  even  where  the  person  him- 
self attributes  his  beUef  of  it  to  tlie  miracles,  with  which  it  was  aimounced 
by  the  founder  of  his  religion. 

It  is  a  strong  presumptive  proof  against  materialism,  tliat  tliere  does 
not  exist  a  language  on  earth,  from  the  rudest  to  the  most  refined,  in 
which  a  materialist  can  talk  for  five  minutes  together,  without  involvuig 
some  contradiction  in  terms  to  his  own  system.  Objection.  Will  not  this 
apply  equally  to  the  astronomer?  Newton,  no  doubt,  talked  of  the  sun's 
rising  and  setting,  just  like  other  men.  What  should  we  think  of  the 
coxcomb,who  should  have  objected  to  him,  that  he  contradicted  his  own 
system  ?  Answer. — No !  it  does  not  apply  equally  ;  Say  rather,  it  is  utter- 
ly mapplicable  to  tlie  astronomer  and  natural  philosopher.  For  his  phi- 
losophic, and  his  ordinary  language  speak  of  two  quite  different  things, 
both  of  which  are  equally  true.  In  his  ordinary  language  he  refers  to  a 
fact  of  appearance,  to  a  phfenomenon  common  and  necessary  to  all  per- 
sons in  a  given  situation :  in  his  scientific  language  he  determines  that  one 
position,  figure,  &c.  which  being  supposed,  the  appearance  in  question 
would  be  the  necessary  result,  and  all  appearances  in  all  situations  may 
be  demonstrably  foretold.  Let  a  body  be  suspended  in  the  air,  and  strong- 
ly illuminated.  What  figure  is  here  ?  A  triangle.  But  what  here  ?  A 
trapezium,....and  so  on.  The  same  question  put  to  twenty  men,  in  twenty 
different  positions  and  distances,  would  receive  twenty  different  answers : 
and  each  would  be  a  true  answer.  But  what  is  that  one  figure,  which 
being  so  placed,  all  these  facts  of  appearance  must  result,  according  to  the 
law  of  perspective  ?....Aye !  this  is  a  different  (juestion,....this  is  a  new  sub- 
ject. The  words,  which  answer  this,  would  be  absurd,  if  used  in  reply  to 
the  former. 


NOTES.  277 

Thus,  the  language  of  the  scriptures  on  natural  objects  is  as  strictly  phi- 
losophical as  that  of  the  Newtonian  sj^stem.  Perhaps,  more  so.  For  it  is 
not  only  equally  true,  but  it  is  universal  among  mankind,  and  unchange- 
able. It  describes  facts  of  appearance.  And  what  other  language  would 
have  been  consistent  with  the  divine  wisdom  ?  The  insph-ed  writers  must 
have  bon'owed  their  terminology,  eitlier  from  the  crude  and  mistaken  phi- 
losophy of  their  o>vn  times,  and  so  have  sanctified  and  perpetuated  false- 
hood, unintelligible  meantime  to  all  but  one  in  ten  thousand  ;  or  they  must 
have  anticipated  the  terminology  of  the  true  system,  without  any  revela- 
tion of  the  system  itself,  and  so  have  become  unintelligible  to  all  men  ;  or 
lastly,  they  must  have  revealed  the  system  itself,  and  thus  have  left  nothing 
for  the  exercise,  develo})ement,  or  reward  of  the  human  understandhig,  in- 
stead of  teaching  that  moral  knowledge,  and  enforcing  those  social  and  ci- 
vic virtues,  out  of  which  tlie  arts  and  sciences  will  spring  up  in  due  time,  and 
of  their  own  accord.  But  nothing  of  this  apj)lies  to  the  materialist ;  he  re- 
fers to  the  very  same  facts,  which  the  common  language  of  mankind  speaks 
of:  and  these  too  are  facts,  that  have  tlieir  sole  and  entire  being  in  our  own 
consciousness ;  facts,  as  to  which  esse  and  conscire  are  identical.  Now, 
whatever  is  common  to  all  languages,  in  all  climates,  at  all  times,  and  in  all 
stages  of  civilization,  must  be  the  Exponent  and  Consequent  of  the  common 
consciousness  of  man,  as  man.  Whatever  contradicts  this  universal  lan- 
guage, therefore,  contradicts  the  imivcrsal  consciousness  ;  and  the  facts  in 
question  subsisting  exclusively  in  consciousness,  whatever  contradicts  the 
consciousness,  conti-adicta  the  fact. 

[34]  p.  58. 

Technical  phrases  of  an  obsolete  System  will  yet  i-etain  their  places,  nay 
acquire  universal  currency,  and  becojiie  sterling  in  the  language,  when 
they  at  once  represent  the  feelings,  and  give  an  apparent  solution  of  them 
by  visual  images  easily  managed  by  the  Fancy.  Such  are  many  terms 
and  phrases  from  the  Humoral  Physiology  long  exploded,  yet  are  far  more 
popular  than  any  description  would  be  from  the  Theoiy  that  has  taken  its 
place. 

[35]  p.  62. 

In  check  of  fanatical  pretensions,  it  is  expedient  to  confine  the  term  mi- 
racidous,  to  cases  where  the  Senses  are  a])pealed  to,  in  })roof  of  something 
tliat  transcends,  or  caimot  l>e  a  part  of,  the  Experience  derived  from  the 
Senses. 

[30]  p.  62. 
For  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  Morality,  as  distinguished  from  Prudence 


278  AIDS    TO    HEFLECTION. 

iini)lylng  (it  matters  not  under  what  name,  whether  of  Honour,  or  Duty, 
or  Conscience,  still,  I  say,  implying),  and  being  grounded  in,  an  awe  of  the 
Invisible  and  a  Confidence  therein  beyond  (nay  occasionally  in  apparent 
contradiction  to)  the  inductions  of  outward  Experience,  is  essentially  reli- 
gious. 
[See  note  23.— Am.  Ed.] 

[37]  p.  72. 
See  Huber  on  Bees,  and  on  ants. 

[The  meaning  of  some  part  of  this  Comment  will  be  rendered  more 
clear  by  referring  to  the  passage  of  the  work  in  p.  151 — 154. — Am.  Ed.] 

[38]  p.  75. 

About  the  end  of  the  same  year  (says  Kalm),  another  of  these  Animals 
(Mephitis  Americana)  crept  into  our  cellar;  but  did  not  exhale  the  smallest 
scent,  because  it  was  iwt  disturbed.  A  foolish  old  JVoman,  hoivever,  tvho  per- 
ceived it  at  nighty  by  the  shining,  and  thought,  I  suppose,  that  it  ivoidd  set  the 
tvorld  on  Jire,  killed  it :  and  at  that  moment  its  stench  began  to  spread. 

We  recommend  this  anecdote  to  the  consideration  of  sundry  old  Wo- 
men, on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  who,  though  they  do  not  wear  the  ap- 
pro[)riate  garment,  are  worthy  to  sit  in  their  committee-room,  like  Bicker- 
staff  in  the  Tatler,  under  the  canopy  of  their  Grandam's  Hoop-petticoat. 

[39]  p.  76. 

To  the  same  purpose   are  the  two  following  sentences  from  Hilary : 
Etiam  ({uve  pro  Religione  dicimus,  cum  grandi  metu  ct  disciplina  dicere 
debemus. — Hilarius  de  Trinit.     Lib.  7. 

^  Non  Relictus  est  hominum  eloquiis  de  Dei  rebus  alius  quam  Dei  sermo. 
Idem. 

The  latter,  however,  must  be  taken  with  certain  Qimlijications  and  Ex- 
ceptions :  as  when  any  two  or  more  Texts  are  in  apparent  contradiction, 
and  it  is  required  to  state  a  truth  that  comi>rehends  and  reconciles  both, 
and  which,  of  course,  cannot  be  expressed  in  the  words  of  either.  Ex.  gr. 
the  filial  subordination  {My  Fattier  is  greater  than  I),  in  the  equal  Deity  [My 
Father  and  I  are  one). 

[40]  p.  82. 

Mcrnvoia,  the  New  Testament  word,  which  we  render  by  Repentance, 
compounded  of /itr^,  trans,  and  ty?,  mens,  the  Spirit,  or  {iractical  Reason. 

[11]  p.  83. 
May  1  without  offence  be  permitted  to  record  the  very  appropriate  title. 


NOTES.  279 

with  which  a  stem  Hiunorist  lettered  a  collection  of  Unitarian  Tracts  ? — 
"  Salvation  made  easy  ;  or,  Every  Man  his  own  Redeemer." 

[42]  p.  88. 

On  this  principle  alone  is  it  possible  to  justify  capital,  or  ignomimous 
Punishments  (or  indeed  any  punishment  not  having  the  refonnation  of 
the  Criminal,  as  one  of  its  objects).  Such  Punishments,  like  those  in- 
flicted on  Suicides,  must  be  regarded  as  posthumous :  the  willful  extinc- 
tion of  the  moral  and  personal  Life  being,  for  the  purposes  of  punitive 
Justice,  equivalent  to  a  wilful  destruction  of  the  natural  Life.  If  the  speech 
of  Judge  Burnet  to  the  Horse-stealer  (You  are  not  hanged  for  stealing  a 
Horse  ;  but,  that  Horses  may  not  be  stolen)  can  be  vindicated  at  all,  it 
must  be  on  this  principle  ;  and  not  on  the  all-imsettling  scheme  of  Expe- 
dience, which  is  the  anarchy  of  Morals. 

[Fully  and  strongly  as  I  am  convinced  of  the  importance  and  the  truth 
of  the  distinctions  made,  and  the  doctrines  taught,  in  this  Preliminaiy  to 
Aphorisms  on  Sj)iritual  Religion,  I  shall  not  attempt  to  add  any  thing  to 
the  distinctness  or  conclusiveness,  \vith  which  they  are  stated  by  the  au- 
thor. I  will  ventiu'e  however  in  his  behalf  to  solicit  the  readers  of  the 
work  and  especially  those,  who  have  received  their  notions  of  the  will 
from  Edwards  or  from  Brown,  to  give  this  and  the  other  passages  referred 
to  in  note  29th,  a  candid  and  studious  attention.  The  relation  of  the  will 
to  the  reason  and  conscience  will  be  found  exhibited  more  fully  in  other 
parts  of  the  work. — Am.  Ed.] 

[43]  p.  98. 

[The  distinguishing  character,  and  the  appropriate  functions  of  Reason, 
in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  by  the  author,  will  be  foimd  pp.  136-139- 
141-145,  and  in  the  59th  note.  Its  authority  in  relation  to  matters  of  faith 
is  more  fidly  stated  in  subsequent  parts  of  the  work.  The  following  may 
be  referred  to  among  others,  pp.  108-120,  132-134, 192-194,  204-206,  and 
the  appendix  to  the  first  Lay  SeiTnon  republished  at  the  end  of  this  Vol- 
ume. This  is  a  subject  much  talked  of  among  speculative  theologians  and 
religious  writers  of  eveiy  class,  yet  how  seldom  ^vith  any  definite  and  sat- 
isfactory result.  A  critical  analysis  of  our  cognitive  faculties,  and  of  the 
subjective  grounds  of  faith  in  the  hmnan  mindy  is  obviously  the  only 
method  of  arrivhig  at  fixed  and  rational  conclusions  respecting  it;  and  I 
speak  with  confidence  in  saying,  that  a  careful  study  of  the  passages  in 
this  work  referred  to  above,  and  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  distinction 
pointed  out  between  the  understanding  and  the  reason^  and  of  the  distinct 
offices  of  the  latter,  as  speculative,  and  as  p-acticcd  i-eason,  will  do  more  to 
solve  the  difiiculties  of  the  student  on  matters  of  this  sort,  than  any  or  all 
other  discussions  of  the  subject,  which  he  will  be   likely  to  meet  with  in 


280  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

the  English  Language.    In  regard  to  the  use  of  tenns  here  it  is  dcBerving 
of  remark,  tliat  Heniy  More,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  profound  phi- 
losopliers   of  the  most  philosophical  age,  has  employed   the   word  reason 
nearly  in  the  same  sense   as  that,  hi  which  it  is  used  by  Coleridge.    This 
appears  fi-om  the  exti-acts  before  and  after  the  Aphorisni;  with  which  this 
note  is  connected,  and  still  more  clearly  from  "tlie  Preface  general"  to  his 
Philosophical  Works.     "Take  away  REASON,"  he  remai-ks,  "and  all  re- 
ligions are  alike  tnie  ;  as  the  light  being  removed  all  things  are  of  one  col- 
our."   For  other  extracts  see  note  59th.  I  might  refer  to  the  works  of  this 
author  for  examjiles  of  a  use  very  similar  to  that  adopted  by  Coleridge  in 
regard  to  the  meaning  assigned  to  many  other  important  words  besides 
the  one  mentioned,  as  sense,  understanding,  notion,  perception,  conception, 
idea,  subject,  object,  &c.    To  those,   who  are  not  convinced  that  all  true 
philosophy  is  to  be  found  in  the  wiiters  of  the  last  centmy,  and  are  fond 
of  seeking  it  in  the  forgotten   fohos  of  a  more  ancient  date,  tlie  works  of 
this  author  will  afford  both  instruction  and  amusement     The  axioms  laid 
down  in  the  connnencement  of  his  treatise  on  the  Iinmoitality  of  the  Soul, 
and  the  first  Book  of  his  "Antidote  against  Atheism,"  are  evidence  of  pro- 
found philosophical  insight  into  the  laws   of  the  human  mind  and  the 
grounds  of  our  knowledge.    The  following  remarks  respecting  the  man- 
ner, in  which  his  works  should  be  read,  I  could  wish  the  reader  to  apply 
to  the  present  work.    "If  any,"  he  says,  "  expect  or  desire  any  general  in- 
struction or  preparation  for  the  more  profitably  perusing  of  these  my  wri- 
tings, I  must  profess,  that  I  can  give   none  that  is  peculiar  to  them,  but 
what  will  fit  all  writmgs  that  are  writ  with  FREEDOM  and  REASON. 
And  this  one  royal  rule  I  would  recommend  for  all,  not  to  judge  of  the 
truth  of  any  proposition  till  we  have  a  settled  and  determinate  apprehension  of 
iJie  terms  thereof.    Which  law,  though  it  be  so  necessaiy  and  indispensable, 
yet  there  is  none  so  frequently  broken  as  it  is :  the  effect  whereof  is  those 
many  heaps  of  voluminous  writings,  and  inept  oppositions  and  controver- 
sies that  fill  the  world.     Which  were  impossible  to  be,  if  men  had  not  got 
a  habit  of  fluttering  mere  words  against  one  another,  Avithout  taking  no- 
tice of  any  determinate   sense,  and  so  did  fight  as  it  were  with  so  many 
Hercules'  clubs  made  of  })asteboard,  which  cause  a  great  sound,  but  do  no 
execution  towards  the  ending  of  disputes.     See  note  58.    The  following 
on  the  subject  of  the  Aphorism  is  from  the  Friend,  vol.  3.  pp.  10{^106. — 
Am.  Eb.] 

"We  have  the  highest  ])ossible  authority,  that  of  Scripture  itself,  to  jus- 
tify us  in  putting  the  question :  Whether  miracles  can,  of  themselves, 
work  a  true  conviction  in  the  mind  ?  There  are  spiritual  truths  which  must 
derive  their  evidence  from  within,  which  whoever  rejects,  "neither  will  he 
believe  though  a  man  were  to  rise  from  the  dead"  to  confirm  them.  And 
under  the  Mosaic  law  a  miracle  in  attestation  of  a  iidse  doctrine  subjected 
the  miracle-worker  to  death  ;  Avhcther  really  or  only  seemingly  supernat- 


NOTES.  28  i 

ural,  makes  no  difference  in  the  present  argument,  its  power  of  convin- 
cing, wliatever  tliat  power  may  be,  whether  gi-eat  or  small,  depending  on 
the  fulness  of  the  belief  in  its  miraculous  nature.  Est  quibus  esse  vide- 
tur.  Or  rather,  that  I  may  express  the  same  position  in  a  form  less  hkely 
to  offend,  is  not  a  true  efficient  con\dction  of  a  moral  truth,  is  not  "  the 
creating  of  a  new  heart,"  which  collects  the  energies  of  a  man's  whole 
being  in  the  focus  of  the  conscience,  the  one  essential  miracle,  the  same 
and  of  the  same  evidence  to  the  ignorant  and  the  learned,  which  no  supe- 
rior skill  can  counterfeit,  human  or  dsemoniacal  ?  Is  it  not  emphatically 
that  leading  of  the  Father,  without  which  no  man  can  come  to  Christ  ? 
Is  it  not  that  implication  of  doctrine  in  the  miracle,  and  of  miracle  in  the 
doctrine,  wliich  is  the  bridge  of  communication  between  the  senses  and 
the  soul  ?  That  predisposing  warmth  that  renders  the  understanding  sus- 
ceptible of  the  specific  impression  from  the  historic,  and  from  all  other 
outward,  seals  of  testimony  ?  Is  not  this  the  one  infalhble  criterion  of 
miracles,  by  which  a  man  can  knoio  whether  they  be  of  God  ?  The  ab- 
hoiTcnce  in  which  the  most  savage  or  barbarous  tribes  hold  witchcraft,  in 
which  however  their  belief  is  so  intense*  as  even  to  control  the  springs  of 
life, — is  not  this  abhorrence  of  witchcraft  under  so  full  a  conviction  of  its 
reality  a  proof,  how  little  of  divine,  how  little  fitting  to  our  nature,  a  mir- 
acle is,  when  insulated  from  spiritual  truths,  and  disconnected  from  reh- 
gion  as  its  end  ?  What  then  can  we  think  of  a  theological  theory,  which 
adopting  a  scheme  of  prudential  legahty,  common  to  it  with  "the  sty  of 
Epicurus"  as  far  at  least  as  the  springs  of  moral  action  are  concerned, 
makes  its  whole  religion  consist  in  the  belief  of  miracles !  As  well  might 
the  poor  African  prepare  for  himself  a  fetisch  by  plucking  out  the  eyes 
fi-om  the  eagle  or  the  lynx,  and  enshrining  the  saine,  worship  hi  them  the 
power  of  vision.  As  the  tenet  of  professed  Christians  (I  speak  of  the  prin- 
ciple, not  of  the  men,  whose  hearts  will  always  more  or  less  coiTect  the  er- 
rors of  their  understandings)  it  is  even  more  absurd,  and  the  pretext  for 
such  a  reUgion  more  inconsistent  than  the  religion  itself.  For  they  profess 
to  derive  from  it  their  whole  faith  in  that  futurity,  which  if  they  had  not 
previously  believed  on  the  evidence  of  their  own  consciences,  of  Moses 
dnd  the  Prophets,  they  are  assured  by  the  gi'eat  Founder  and  Object  of 
Christianity,  that  neither  will  they  believe  it,  in  any  spiritual  and  profitable 
sense,  though  a  man  should  rise  from  the  dead." 

[44]  p.  100. 

The  very  Tnarked,  positive  as  well  as  comparative,  magnitude  and  promi- 
nence of  the  Bump,  entitled  Benevolence  (see  Spwiheim^s  Map  of  the 


*I  refer  the  reader  to  Hearne's  Travels  among  the  Copper  Indians,  and 
to  Biyan  Edwards'  account  of  the  Oby  in  the  West  Indies,  grounded  on 
judicial  documents  and  personal  observation, 

36 


282  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

Human  Skull,  on  the  head  of  the  late  Mr.  Jolm  Thurtel,  has  wofiilly  un- 
settled the  faith  of  many  ardent  Plirenologistp,  and  strengthened  the  pre- 
vious donl)ts  of  a  still  greater  nnmher  into  utter  disbelief.  On  my  mind 
this  fact  (for  a  fact  it  is)  produced  the  direct  contrary  eifect ;  and  inclined 
me  to  suspect,  for  the  first  time,  that  there  may  be  some  ti'uth  in  the 
Spurzheimian  Scheme.  Whether  future  Craniologists  may  not  see  cause 
to  new-name  this  and  one  or  two  other  of  tliese  convex  gnomons,  is  quite 
a  different  question.  At  present,  and  according  to  the  present  use  of 
words,  any  such  change  would  be  premature  :  and  we  must  be  content  to 
say,  that  Mr.  Thurtel's  Benevolence  was  insufficiently  modified  by  tlie  un- 
protrusive  and  unindicated  Convolutes  of  the  Brain,  that  secrete  honesty 
and  common-sense.  The  organ  of  Destructiveness  was  indirectly  poUn- 
ziated  by  the  absence  or  imperfect  developement  of  the  Glands  of  Reason 
and  Conscience,  in  this  "  unfortunate,  Gentleman .'" 

[45]  p.  106. 

[Those  who  are  disposed  to  defend  the  doctrines  of  Edwards  on  the 
subject  of  tlie  Will,  are  requested,  before  they  take  oflfence  at  the  language 
of  this  passage,  to  reperuse  the  Prehminary  remarks,  p.  87 — 92,  and  can- 
didly to  examine,  in  connexion  with  it,  the  author's  views  of  original  sin, 
beginning  at  p.  158,  being  careful  to  obtam  "  a  settled  and  detenninate  ap- 
})rehension"  ot  the  several  imi)ortant  terms  made  use  of.  The  Will,  ac- 
cording to  Edwards,  "is  as  the  greatest  apparent  good  is."  The  strongest 
motive  in  the  view  of  the  understanding  determines  the  Will. — But  the 
motive  again,  or  the  gTeatest  apparent  good,  is  as  the  man  is.  The  man 
makes  the  motive.  One  man  finds  a  motive  to  sin,  where  another  would 
find  the  strongest  incitement  to  virtue.  The  determining  power  or  cause, 
then,  is  in  the  man,  and,  keeping  in  view  the  distinction  between  nature 
and  will,  the  important  question  is,  whether  this  power  or  determining  cause 
be  in  his  nature  or  in  his  with  If  it  be  in  his  nature,  and  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect,  which  constitutes  his  nature,  be  the  law  of  his  will,  in  other 
words,  if  his  will  be  absorbed  in  that  law,  and  a  part  of  his  nature,  (see 
page  183)  then  whatever  evil  there  may  be  in  the  acts  of  his  will  must  be 
eharged  U})on  his  nature  ;  and  if  this  nature  or  law  of  cause  and  effect,  by 
which  his  will  is  detemiined,  do  not  result  in  any  sense  from  a  previous 
act  of  the  will,  if  it  be  implanted,  inherited,  or  inflicted,  in  any  way,  for 
which  the  individual  could  not  be  personally  responsible,  then  the  evil  na- 
ture of  a  man  differs  notliing  in  its  relation  to  moral  rectitude  and  moral 
responsibility  from  the  evil  nature  of  a  hnde.  He  may  feel  regret  for  it,  but 
he  should  not  feel  remorse.  If  on  the  other  hand  the  determining  cause, 
the  moving  power  or  influence  be  not  in  his  nature,  if  the  act  of  the  will 
be  not  predetermined  by  a  cause  out  of  the  will,  of  which  it  is  the  effect, 
so  as  to  be  a  link  in  the  chain  of.  antecedents  and  consequents,  which  we 
call  nature  ;  then  the  determining  cause  must  be  in  the  will  itself,  and  the 


NOTES.  283 

will  is  self-dotenitined.  If  it  be  an  evil  will,  it  must  Iiave  become  so  by  its 
own  act,  or  it  is  not  sinful.  If  the  man's  nature  have  the  ascendency  and 
the  dominion,  so  tliatthe  will  is  subjected  to  the  law  of  the  flesh,  the  law  hi 
the  members,  it  must  have  been  seif-subjected,  and  the  person  is  resj^onsi- 
ble  for  his  evil  nature.  "  For  a  nature  in  the  will  is  an  evil  nature."  But 
there  is  little  gained  by  multiplying  words,  and  the  objections  to  this  view 
of  the  subject,  that  may  naturally  be  expected  from  those,  who  are  accus- 
tomed to  the  New  England  writers,  at  least  all,  that  are  most  important, 
and  to  which  the  objector  has  aright  to  demand  an  answer,  will  find  a  ra- 
tional one  in  the  passag(.^s  referred  to,  and  in  those,  which  relate  to  the  of- 
fice of  Reason. — See  references  in  the  43d  note, — on  the  general  subject 
of  the  note,  see  also  note  29. — Am.  Ed.] 

[46]  p.  107. 

At  a  period,  in  which  Doctor  Marsh  and  Wordsworth  have,  by  tlie 
Zealots  on  one  side,  been  charged  with  popish  principles  on  account  of 
their  Anti-hihliolatry,  and  the  stiu-dy  adherents  of  the  doctrines  common  to 
Luther  and  Calvin,  and  the  literal  inter})reters  of  the  Articles  and  Homilies, 
are  (I  wish  I  could  say,  altogether  without  any  fault  of  their  own)  regard- 
ed by  the  Clergy  generally  as  virtual  Schismatics,  Dividers  of^  though  not 
from,  the  Church,  it  is  serving  the  cause  of  charity  to  assist  in  circulating 
the  following  mstructive  passage  from  the  Life  of  Bishop  Ilackett  respect- 
ing the  disputes  between  the  Augustinians,  or  Luthero-calvinistic  Divines 
and  the  Grotiaus  of  his  age :  in  which  controversy  (says  his  Biographer) 
he,  Hacket,  "  was  ever  very  moderate." 

"  But  having  been  bred  mider  Bishop  Davenant  and  Dr.  Ward  in  Cam- 
bridge, he  was  addicted  to  their  sentiments.  Archbishop  Usher  would 
say,  that  Davenant  understood  those  controversies  better  than  ever  any 
man  did  since  Augustin.  But  he  (Bishop  Hackett)  used  to  say,  that  he 
was  sure  he  had  three  excellent  men  of  his  mind  in  this  controversy.  1. 
Padre  Paolo  (Father  Paul)  v/hose  Letter  is  extant  to  Hemsius,  anno  1604. 
2.  Thomas  Aquinas.  3.  St.  Augustin.  But  besides  and  alDove  them  all,  he 
believed  in  his  Conscience  that  St.  Paul  was  of  the  same  mind  likewise. 
Yet  at  the  same  time  he  would  profess,  that  he  disliked  no  Arminians,  but 
such  as  revile  and  defame  every  one  w  ho  is  not  so  :  and  he  would  often 
commend  Arminius  himself  for  his  excellent  Wit  and  Parts,  but  only  tax 
his  want  of  reading  and  knowledge  in  Antiquity.  And  he  ever  held,  it 
was  the  foohshest  thing  in  the  world  to  say  the  Armmians  were  popishly 
inclined,  when  so  many  Dominicans  and  Jansenists  were  rigid  followers  of 
Augustin  in  these  points :  and  no  less  foohsh  to  say  that  the  Anti-arminians 
were  Puritans  or  Presljyterians  when  Ward  and  Davenant,  and  Prideaux, 
and  Brownri^,  those  stout  Champions  for  Episcopacy,  were  decided  Anti- 
Arminians :  while  Arminius  himself  was  ever  a  Presbyterian.  Therefore  * 
he  greatly  conmiended  the  moderation  of  our  Chiu'ch,  which  extended 
equal  Communion  to  both." 


284  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

[47]  p.  108. 
The  gigantic  Indian  Spider.    See  Baker's  Microscopic  Experiments. 

[48]  p.  114. 

Exempli  gi-cUia :  at  the  date  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  the  (Roman)  World 
may  be  resembled  to  a  Mass  in  the  Furnace  in  the  jfirst  moment  of  fusion, 
Iiere  a  speck  and  there  a  spot  of  the  melted  Metal  shining  pure  and  bril- 
liant amid  the  scum  and  dross.  To  have  received  the  name  of  Christian 
was  a  privilege,  a  high  and  distinguishing  favour.  No  vt^onder  therefore, 
tliat  in  St.  Paul's  writings  the  words  Elect  and  Election,  often,  nay,  most 
often,  mean  the  same  as  eccalumeni,  ecclesia,  i.  e.  those  who  have  been  call- 
ed out  of  the  World :  and  it  is  a  dangerous  perversion  of  the  Apostle's 
word  to  interpret  it  in  the  sense,  in  which  it  was  used  by  our  Lord,  viz.  in 
opposition  to  Hie  called.  (Many  are  called  but  few  chosen).  In  St.  Paul's 
sense  and  at  that  time  the  BeUevers  collectively  formed  a  small  and  select 
number ;  and  every  Christian,  real  or  nominal,  was  one  of  the  elect.  Add 
too,  that  this  ambiguity  is  increased  by  the  accidental  circumstance,  that 
the  kyriak,  yEdes  Dominicos,  Lord's  House,  Kv'k ;  and  Ecclesia,  the  sum 
total  of  the  Eccaliuneni,  evocati,  CaUed-ovt ;  are  both  rendered  by  the  same 
word  Church. 

[49]  p.  116. 

Or  (I  might  have  added)  any  Idea  which  does  not  either  identify  the 
Creator  with  the  Creation  ;  or  else  represent  the  Supreme  Being  as  a  mere 
impersonal  Law  or  Ordo  ordinans,  differing  from  the  Law  of  Gravitation 
only  by  its  universality. 

[50]  p.  117. 

I  have  elsewhere  remarked  on  the  assistance  wliicli  those  that  labour 
after  distinct  conceptions  would  receive  from  the  re-introduction  of  the 
terms  ohjective  and  subjective,  ohjective  and  subjective  reality,  &c.  as  substi- 
tutes for  real  and  notional,  nm\  to  the  exclusion  of  the  false  antithesis  be- 
tween real  and  ideal.  For  the  Student  hi  that  noblest  of  the  Sciences, 
the  Scire  teipsum,  the  advantage  would  be  especially  great*.    The  few 


*See  the  "  Selection  from  Mr.  Coleridge's  Literary  Correspondence^''  in 
Blackwood's  Ed.  Magazine,  for  October  1821,  Letter  ii.  p.  244— 258,  which 
however,  should  any  of  my  Readers  take  the  the  trouble  of  consulting,  lie 
must  be  content  with  such  parts  as  he  finds  intelligible  at  the  first  perusal. 
For  from  defects  in  the  MS.,  and  without  any  fault  on  the  part  of  the  Edi- 
tor, too  large  a  portion  is  so  printed  that  the  man  must  be  equally  bold  and 
fortunate  in  his  conjectural  readings  who  can  malvc  out  any  meaning  at  all. 

[Most  of  the  above-mentioned  "  Selection"  will  be  found  in  the  Appen- 
dix to  this  Volume.    It  is  reprinted  without  any  attempt  at  correction. 

Am.  Ed.] 


NOTES.  285 

sentences  that  follow,  in  illustration  of  tiie  terms  here  advocated,  will  not, 
I  trust,  be  a  waste  of  the  Reader's  Time. 

The  celebrated  Euler  ha^dng  demonstrated  certain  properties  of  Arches, 
adds :  "  All  experience  is  in  contradiction  to  tliis  ;  but  this  is  no  reason  for 
doubting  its  truth."  The  words  sound  paradoxical ;  but  mean  no  more 
than  this — ^that  tlie  mathematical  properties  of  Figure  and  Space  are  not 
less  certainly  the  properties  of  Figure  and  Space  because  they  can  never 
be  perfectly  realized  hi  wood,  stone,  or  iron.  Now  this  assertion  of  Eu- 
ler's  might  be  expressed  at  once,  briefly  and  simj^ly,  by  saying,  that  the 
properties  in  question  were  subjectively  true,  though  not  objectively — or 
that  the  Mathematical  Arch  possessed  a  subjective  reality,  though  incapable 
.   of  being  realized  objectively. 

In  hke  manner  if  I  had  to  express  my  conviction,  that  Space  was  not 
itself  a  Thing,  but  a  mode  or  form  of  perceiving,  or  the  inward  ground 
and  condition  m  the  Percipient,  in  consequence  of  which  Things  are  seen 
as  outward  and  co-existing,  I  convey  this  at  once  by  the  words,  Space  is 
subjective,  or  Space  is  real  in  and  for  the  Subject  alone. 

If  I  am  asked,  why  not  say  in  and  for  the  mind,  which  every  one  would 
understand  ?     I  re])ly :  we  know  indeed,  that  all  minds  are   Subjects  ;  but 
are  by  no  means  certain,   that  all  Subjects  are  Minds.     For  a  Mind  is  a 
Subject  that  knows  itself,  or  a  Subject  that  is  its  own  Object.     The  inward 
piinciple  of  Gro^vth  and  uidividual   Form  in  every  Seed  and  Plant  is  a 
Subject,  and  without  any  exertion  of  poetic  privilege   Poets  may  speak  of 
the  Sold  of  the  Flower.    But  the  man  would  be  a  Dreamer,  who  other- 
wise than  poetically  should  speak  of  Roses   and  Lilies  as  self-cojiscious 
Subjects.    Lastly,  by  the  assistance  of  the  terms.  Object  and  Subject,  thus 
used  as  correspondent  Opposites,  or  as  Negative  and  Positive  in  Physics 
(ex.  gr.  Neg.  and   Pos.  Electricity)   we  may  arrive  at  the   distinct  import 
and  proper  use  of  the  strangely  misused  word.  Idea.    And  as  the  Forms  of 
Logic  ai*e  all  borrowed  from  Geometry  {Ratiocmat'io  discursiva  fonnas  suas 
sive  canonas  recipit  ab  intuitu,)  I  may  be  permitted  so  to  elucidate  my  jire- 
eent  meaning.   Every  Line  may  be,  and  by  the  ancient  Geometricians  ivcts^ 
considered  as  a  -point  jiroduced,  the  two  extremes  being  its  poles,  while  the 
Point  itself  remams  in,  or  is  at  least  represented  by,  the  mid-point,  the  In- 
difference of  the  two   poles  or  con-elative  opposites.     Logically  a])phed, 
the  two  extremes  or  poles  are  named  Thesis  and  Antithesis :  thus  in  the 
line 

I 

T A 

we  have  T=  Thesis,  A  =  Antithesis,  and  I  :=  Punctum  Indifferens  sive 
Aniphotericum,  which  latter  is  to  be  conceived  as  both  in  as  far  as  it  may  be 
either  of  the  two  former.  Observe :  not  both  at  the  same  time  in  the  same 
relation :  for  this  would  be  the  Identity  of  T  and  A,  not  the  Indifference. 
But  so,  that  relatively  to  A,  1  is  equal  to  T,  and  relatively  to  T  it  becomes 


286  AIDS    TO    REFLECTIOIf. 

=  A.    Thus  in  chcmistiy  Sulphuretted  Hydrogen  is  an  Acid  relatively  to 
the  more  powerful  AU^alis,  and  an  Alkali  relatively  to   a  jjowerful  Acid. 
Yet  one  other  remark,  and  I  pass  to  the  question.     In  order  to  render  the 
constructions  of  pure  Mathematics  applicable  to  Philosophy,  the  Pythago- 
reans, I  imagine,  represented  the  Line  as  generated^  or,  as  it  were,  radiated 
by  a  Point  not   contained  in  the  Line    but  independent,  and  (in  the  lan- 
guage of  that  School)  transcendent  to  all  production,  which  it  caused  but 
did  not  partake  in.     Facit,  non  patitiir.    This  was  the  Punctuni  invisibile, 
et  presuppositum :  and  in  this  way  the  Pythagoreans  guarded  against  the 
error  of  Pantheism,  into  which  the  later  schools  fell.     The  assumption  of 
this  Point  I  call  the  logical  prothesis.     We  have  now  therefore  four  Re- 
lations of  Thought  expressed  .  viz.  1.  Prothesis,  or  the  Identity  of  T  and 
A,  which  is  neither,  because  in  it,  as  the   transcendent  of  both,  both  are 
contained  and  exist  as  one.     Taken  absolutely,  this  finds  its  application  in 
the  Supreme   Being  alone,  the  Pythagorean  tetractts  ;  the  ineffable 
NAME,  to  which  no  Image  dare  be  attached  ;  the  Point,  which  has  no  (real) 
Opposite  or  Counter-jioint,  &c.     But  relatively  taken  and  inadequately,  the 
germinal  power  of  every  seed  (see  p.  42)   might  be  generalized  under  the 
relation  of  Identity.     2.  Thesis  or  Position.     3.  Antithesis,  or  Opposition. 
4.  Indifference.     (To  which  when  we  add  the  Synthesis  or  Composition, 
in  its  several  forms  of  Equilibrium,  as  in  quiescent  Electricity ;    of  Neu- 
tralization, as  of  Oxygen  and  Hydrogen  in  Water ;  and  of  Predominance, 
as  of  Hydrogen  and  Carbon  with  Hydrogen  predominant,  in  pure  Alcohol, 
or  of  Carbon  and  Hydrogen,   with  the  comparative  predominance  of  the 
Carbon,  in  Oil ;  we  complete  the  five  most  general  Forms  or  Preconcep- 
tions of  Constructive  Logic). 

And  now  for  the  answer  to  the  Question,  What  is  an  idea,  if  it  mean 
neither  an  impression  on  the  Senses,  nor  a  definite  Conception,  nor  an  ab- 
stract Notion  ?  (And  if  it  does  mean  either  of  these,  the  word  is  super- 
fluous :  and  while  it  remains  undetermined  which  of  these  is  meant  by 
the  word,  or  whether  it  is  not  which  you  please,  it  is  worse  than  superfluous. 
See  the  Statesman's  Manual,  Appendix  ad  fnem).  But  supposing  the 
word  to  have  a  meaning  of  its  own,  what  does  it  mean?  What  is  an  idea  ? 
In  answer  to  this  I  commence  with  the  ahsohdely  Real,  as  the  prothesis  ; 
the  siihjectivcly  Real  as  the  thesis  ;  the  ohjedively  Real  as  the  antithesis  : 
and  I  afiirm,  that  Idea  is  the  indifference  of  the  two — so  namely,  that  if 
it  be  conceived  as  in  the  Subject,  the  Idea  is  an  Object,  and  possesses  Ob- 
jective truth  ;  but  if  in  an  Object,  it  is  then  a  Subject,  and  is  necessarily 
thought  of  as  exercising  the  powers  of  a  Subject.  Tlius  an  idea  conceiv- 
ed as  subsisting  in  an  Object  becomes  a  law  ;  and  a  Law  contemi)lated 
suhjectimly  (in  a  mind)  is  an  Idea. 

In  the  third  and  last  Section  of  my  "Elements  of  Discourse ;"  in  which 
{afl;er  having  in  the  two  former  sections  treated  of  the  Common  or  Syllo- 
sristic  Logic — the  science  of  legitimate  conclusions  ;  and  the  Critical  Logic, 


NOTES.  287 

or  the  Criteria  of  Truth  and  Falsehood  in  all  Premises],  I  Iiave  given  at 
full  my  scheme  of  Constructive  Reasoning,  or  "  Logic  as  the  Organ  of 
Philosophy,"  in  the  same  sense  as  the  Mathematics  are  the  Organ  of  Sci- 
ence ;  the  Reader  will  find  proofs  of  the  Utility  of  this  Scheme,  including 
the  five-fold  Division  above-stated,  and  numerous  examples  of  its  applica- 
tion. Nor  is  it  only  in  Theology  that  its  importance  will  be  felt,  but  equally, 
nay  in  a  greater  degree,  as  an  mstrument  of  Discovery  and  universal  Me- 
thod in  Physics,  Physiolog}'^,  and  Statistics.  As  this  third  Section  does 
not  pretend  to  the  forensic  and  comparatively  popular  character  and  utility 
of  the  parts  preceding,  one  of  the  Objects  of  the  present  Note  is  to  obtain 
the  opinions  of  judicious  friends  respecting  the  expedience  of  publishing 
it,  in  the  same  fonn,  indeed,  and  as  an  Aimexment  to  the  "  Elements  of 
Discourse,"  yet  so  as  that  each  may  be  purchased  separately. 

[As  the  above  note,  so  far  at  least  as  it  relates  to  the  definition  of  an 
idea,  will  appear  veiy  abstruse  and  unintelligible  to  many  readers,  I  shall 
bring  togetlier  a  few  extracts  from  other  parts  of  the  author's  works,  for 
the  pui-pose  of  illustration,  though  some  of  them  will  perhaps  not  be 
thought  to  throw  much  light  upon  the  subject. 

"There  is,  strictly  speaking,  no  proper  opposition  but  between  the 

TWO  POLAR  forces  OF  ONE  AND  THE  SAME  POWER.  EvERY  POWER  IN  NA- 
TURE AND  IN  SPIRIT  must  cvolvc  an  opposite,  as  the  sole  means  and  condition 
of  its  manifestation :  and  all  opposition  is  a  tendency  to  reunion. 
This  is  the  universal  law  of  polarity  or  essential  Duahsm,  first  promulga- 
ted by  Heraclitus,  2000  years  afl:erwards  re-published,  and  made  the  found- 
ation both  of  Logic,  of  Physics,  and  of  Metaphysics  by  Giordano  Bruno. 
The  principle  may  be  thus  expressed.  The  Identity  of  Thesis  and 
Antithesis  is  the  substance  of  all  Being ;  their  Opposition  the  condition  of 
all  Existence,  or  Being  manifested  ;  and  every  Thing  or  Phaenomenon  is 
the  Exponent  of  a  Synthesis  as  long  as  the  opposite  energies  are  retained 
in  that  Synthesis.  Thus  Water  is  neither  Oxygen  nor  Hydrogen,  nor  yet 
is  it  a  commixture  of  both  ;  but  the  Sj'^nthesis  or  Lidifference  of  the  two  : 
and  as  long  as  the  copula  endures,  by  which  it  becomes  Water,  or  rather 
which  alojie  is  Water,  it  is  not  less  a  simple  Body  than  either  of  the  ima- 
ginaiy  Elements,  improperly  called  its  Ingredients  or  Components.  It  is 
the  object  of  the  mechanical  atomistic  Psilosophy  to  confound  Synthesis 
with  sjjnartesis,  or  rather  with  mere  juxta-position  of  Corpuscles  separated 
by  invisible  Interspaces.  I  find  it  difiicult  to  determine,  whether  this  the- 
oiy  contradicts  tlie  Reason  or  the  Senses  most :  for  it  is  alike  inconceiva- 
ble and  unimaginable." — TVie  Friend,  vol.  1:  pp.  155 — 156, 

The  following  is  the  continuation  of  a  passage  partly  inserted  in  note 
29th. 

"  Having  thus  explained  the  term  Nature,  we  now  more  especially  en- 
treat the  reader's  attention  to  the  sense,  in  which  here,  and  every  where 


288  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

til  rough  this  Essaj'',  we  use  the  word  Idea.  We  assert,  that  the  very  im- 
pulse to  universalise  any  pha^nomenon  involves  the  prior  assumption  of 
some  efficient  law  in  nature,  which  m  a  thousand  different  forms  is  ever- 
more one  and  the  same  ;  entire  in  each,  yet  comprehending  all ;  and  in- 
capable of  being  abstracted  or  generalized  from  any  number  of  phsenom- 
ena,  because  it  is  itself  pre-supposed  in  each  and  all  as  their  common 
ground  and  condition :  and  because  every  definition  of  a  genus  is  the  ad- 
equate definition  of  the  lowest  species  alone,  while  the  efficient  law  must 
contain  the  giound  of  all  in  all.  It  is  attributed,  never  derived.  The  ut- 
most we  ever  venture  to  say  is,  that  the  falling  of  an  apple  suggested  the 
law  of  gravitation  to  Sir  I.  Newton.  Now  a  law  and  an  idea  are  corre- 
lative terms,  and  diffisr  only  as  object  and  subject,  as  being  and  truth. 

Such  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Novum  Organum  of  Lord  Bacon,  agreeing 
(as  we  shall  more  largely  show  in  the  text)  in  all  essential  points  with  the 
true  doctrine  of  Plato,  the  apparent  diffiirences  being  for  the  gi'eater  part 
occasioned  by  the  Grecian  sage  having  applied  his  principles  chiefly  to  the 
investigation  of  the  mind,  and  the  method  of  evolving  its  powers,  and  the 
English  philosopher  to  the  developement  of  nature.  That  our  great 
countryman  speaks  too  often  detractingly  of  the  divine  philosopher  must 
be  explained,  partly  by  the  tone  given  to  thinking  minds  by  the  Reform- 
ation, the  founders  and  fathers  of  which  saw  in  the  Aristotehans,  or  school- 
men, the  antagonists  of  Protestantism,  and  in  the  Italian  Platonists  the 
despisers  and  secret  enemies  of  Christianity  itself;  and  partly,  by  his  hav- 
ing formed  his  notions  of  Plato's  doctrines  from  the  absurdities  and  phan- 
tasms of  his  misinterpreters,  rather  than  fi*om  an  unprejudiced  study  of 
the  origmal  works." — The  Fiiend,  vol.  3.  pp.  1G8 — 169. 

In  the  next  extract  the  relation  of  the  subjective  idea  to  the  coiTelative 
law  existing  objectively  in  nature,  is  illustrated  by  an  exami)le,  which  will 
probably  render  the  whole  subject  more  intelligible,  as  well  as  give  some 
notion  of  the  author's  views  on  subjects  of  physical  science. 

"But  in  experimental  philosophy,  it  may  be  said  how  much  do  we  not 
owe  to  accident  ?  Doubtless  :  but  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  if  the  dis- 
coveries so  made  stop  there  ;  if  they  do  not  excite  some  master  idea  ;  if 
they  do  not  lead  to  some  law  (in  whatever  dress  of  theory  or  hypotheses 
the  fashions  and  prejudices  of  the  time  may  disguise  or  disfigure  it) :  the 
discoveries  may  remain  for  ages  limited  in  their  uses,  insecure  and  unpro- 
tluctive.  How  many  centuries,  Vv^e  might  have  said  millennia,  have  pass- 
ed, since  the  first  accidental  discovery  of  the  attraction  and  repulsion  of 
light  bodies  by  rubbed  amber,  &c.  Compare  tlie  interval  with  the  pro- 
gress made  within  less  than  a  centuiy,  after  the  discovery  of  the  phaenom- 
ena  that  led  innncdiately  to  a  theory  of  electricity.  That  here  as  in  ma- 
ny other  instances,  the  theory  was  su])poi'tcd  by  insecure  hypotheses  ;  that 
by  one  theorist  two  heterogeneous  fluids  arc  assumed,  the  vitreous  and  the 
resinous  ;  by  another,  a  plus  and  minus  of  the  same  fluid  ;  tliat  a  third 


NOTES.  289 

considers  it  a  mere  modification  of  light ;  while  a  fourth  composes  the 
electrical  aura  of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  caloric  ;  this  does  but  place  the 
truth  we  have  been  evolving  in  a  stronger  and  clearer  light.    For  abstract 
from  all  these  suppositions,  or  rather  imaginations,  that  which  is  common 
to,  and  involved  in  them  all ;  and  we  shall  have  neither  notional  fluid  or 
fluids,  nor  chemical  compounds,   nor  elementary  matter^ — but  the  idea  of 
tii,o — opposite— forces,  tending  to  rest  by  equilibrium.    These  are  the  sole 
factors  of  the  calculus,   alike  in  all  the  theories.    These  give  the  law,  and 
m  it  the  method,  both  of  arranging  the  phsenomena  and  of  substantiating 
appearances   into  facts   of  science ;  with   a  success  proportionate  to  the 
clearness  or  confusedness  of  the  insight  into  the  law.    For  this  reason,  we 
anticipate  the  gi*eatest  improvements  in  the  method,  the  nearest  approaches 
to  a  system  of  electricity  from  those  philosophers,  who  have  presented  the 
law  most  purely,  and  the  correlative  idea  as  an  idea :  those,  namely,  who, 
suice  the  year  1798,  in  the  ti'ue  spirit  of  experimental  dynamics,  rejecting 
the  imagination  of  any  material  substrate,  simple  or  compoimd,  contem- 
})late  in  the  phsenomena  of  electricity  the  operation  of  a  laAV  which  reigns 
through  all  nature,  the  law  of  polarity,  or  the  manifestation  of  one  pow- 
er by  opposite  forces:  who  trace  in  these  appearances,  as  the  most  obvi- 
ous and  striking  of  its  innumerable  forms,  the  agency  of  the  positive  and 
negative  poles  of  a  power  essential  to  all  material  construction  ;  tlie  sec- 
ond, namely,  of  the  three  primary  principles,  for  which  the  beautiful  and 
most  appropriate  symbols  are  given  by  the  mind  in  the  tln"ee  ideal  dimen- 
sions of  space." — The  Friend,  \o\.  2.]}.  l^Q — ]88.  ,,,->  :••. 

"  The  difference,  or  rather  distinction  between  Plato  and  tord  Bacon  is 
simply  this :  that  philosophy  being  necessarily  bi-polar,  Plato  treats  piin- 
cipally  of  the  truth,  as  it  manifests  itself  at  the  ideal  pole,  as  the  science 
of  intellect  (i.  e.  de  mundo  intelligibili) ;  while  Bacon  confines  himself,  for 
the  most  part,  to  the  same  truth,  as  it  is  manifested  at  the  other,  or  mate- 
rial pole,   as  the  science  of  nature  (i.  e.  de  mundo  sensibili).     It  is  as  ne- 
cessary, therefore,   that  Plato  should  direct  his  inquiries   cliiefly  to  those 
objective  truths  that  exist  in  and   for  the  intellect  alone,  the  images  and 
representatives  of  which  we  consti'uct  for  ourselves  by  figure,  nmiiber,  and 
word ;  as  that   Lord  Bacon  should  attach  his  main  concern  to  the  truths 
which  have   their  signatures  in  nature,   and  which,  (as  he  himself  plainly 
and  often  asserts)  may  indeed  be  revealed  to  us  through  and  with,  but  never 
hy  the   senses,  or  the  faculty  of  sense.     Otherwise,  indeed,  uistead  of  be- 
ing more  objective  than  the  former  (which  they  are  not  in  any  sense,  both 
])eing  in  this  respect  the  same),  they  would  be  less  so,  and  in  fact,  incapa- 
ble of  bemg  insulated  fi'om  the  "  Idola  tribus  quae  in  ipsa  natura  humana 
fundata  sunt,  atque  in  ipsa  tribu  sen  gente  hominum :  cum  onmes  percep- 
tiones  tarn  sensus  quarn   mentis,  sunt  ex  analogia  hommis  non  ex  analo- 
gia  universi."    (N.   O.  xli.)     Hence,  too,  it  will  not  sui-prise  us,  tliat  Plato 
so  ofl;en  calls  ideas  living  laws,  in  which  the  mind  has  its  whole  true  be- 

37 


290  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ing  aiid  permanence  ;  or  that  Bacon  vice  versa,  names  the  laws  of  nature, 
ideas ;  and  represents  wliat  w^e  have,  in  a  former  part  of  this  disquisition, 
called  facts  of  science  and  centred  phceiiomena,  as  signatures,  impressions, 
and  symbols  of  ideas.  A  distinguishable  power  seF-aiiirmed,  and  seen  in 
its  unity  with  the  Eternal  Essence,  is,  according  to  Plato,  an  Idea  :  and 
the  discipline,  by  which  the  human  mind  is  purified  from  its  idols  (f«^w;.a), 
and  raised  to  the  contemplation  of  Ideas,  and  thence  to  the  secure  and 
ever-progressive,  though  never-ending,  investigation  of  truth  and  reality 
by  scientific  method,  comprehends  what  the  same  philosopher  so  highly 
extols  under  the  title  of  Dialectic.  According  to  Lord  Bacon,  as  descri- 
bing the  same  truth  seen  from  the  opposite  point,  and  applied  to  natural 
philosophy,  an  idea  would  be  defined  as — Intuitio  sive  inventio,  quse  in 
perceptione  sensus  non  est  (ut  quae  purse  et  sicci  luminis  Intellectioni  est 
propria)  idearum  divinse  mentis,  prout  in  creaturis  per  signaturas  suas  sese 
patefaciant.  That  (saith  the  judicious  Hooker)  which  doth  assign  to  each 
thing  the  kind,  that  which  determines  the  force  and  power,  that  which 
doth  appoint  the  form  and  measure  of  working,  the  same  we  term  a  Law. 

The  Friend,  vol.  3.  p.  210—213. 

To  do  justice  to  the  subject  of  the  last  extract  the  whole  Essay  should 
have  been  inserted,  but  much  of  it  would  be  alien  to  the  main  purpose  of 
the  note.  I  trust  however,  what  is  here  said  of  the  coincidence  of  the 
philosophy  of  Bacon  with  that  of  Plato,  will  awaken  the  curiosity  of  some 
who  have  been  taught  to  consider  them  as  directly  opposed,  and  lead  them 
to  read  all  that  is  said  upon  this  subject  in  the  Friend,  vol.  3.  Essays  7 
and  8.  If  he  do  so,  or  take  the  pains  to  examine  the  subject  at  his  leisure 
by  comparmg  the  works  of  those  great  men,  he  will  be  convinced,  that  at 
least  many  of  the  prevailing  notions,  respecting  the  philosophy  of  Plato, 
could  have  originated  only  m  ignorance  or  misrepresentation.  Though 
his  works  are  often  spoken  of,  and  his  doctrines  alluded  to,  by  Stewart,  I 
remember  but  few  instances,  in  which  he  refers  to  particular  passages, 
and  in  these  he  does  it  on  the  authority  of  others.  Now  to  say  nothing 
of  what  might  be  considered  in  any  man  the  presumption,  at  least  the  in- 
expediency, of  writing  and  publishing  a  work  of  general  metaphysics, 
without  first  becoming  acquainted  with  works  on  the  subject  so  long  and 
widely  celebrated,  as  those  of  Plato,  it  was  certainly  incumbent  on  him  to 
speak  of  what  he  had  not  read  with  extreme  caution.  That  he  has  not 
been  sufficiently  guarded  in  the  representations  which  he  maizes  of  Pla- 
to's doctrines,  is  apparent  even  to  those  who  have  but  a  slight  acquaint- 
ance with  the  original ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  both  he  and  Dr. 
Reid  entirely  misapprehended  the  general  character  of  his  philosophy. 
One  of  the  few  references  to  paiticular  passages  is  made,  in  the  beginning 
of  his  chapter  on  perception,  to  the  7th  Book  of  Plato's  Republic,  "in 
which,"  he  says,  "  he  compares  the  process  of  the  mind  in  perception  to 
that  of  a  person  in  a  cave,   who  sees  not  external  objects  themselves,  but 


NOTES.  291 

only  their  shadows."  Now  let  any  scholar,  who  has  studied  Bacon's  No- 
vum Organuni,  and  can  construe  a  sentence  of  Greek,  read  tlie  passage 
refen-ed  to,  and  compare  it  with  the  latter  part  of  the  (ith  Book,  and  he 
will  find,  instead  of  a  fanciful  account  of  the  process  of  perception,  some- 
thing mdced  about  a  person  in  a  cave,  mto  which  the  shadows  of  objects 
are  thrown,  but  designed  to  illystrate  a  subject  entirely  different.  By 
comparing  it  with  the  Novum  Organum,  he  will  be  convinced,  that  Plato 
is  here  exhibiting  the  difficulties  and  obstructions,  which  the  reason,  rsc, 
(lux  intellectus,  lumen  siccum)  finds,  in  its  search  after  truth  and  in  the 
contemplation  of  ideas,  from  the  unreal  phantasms,  and  deceptive  idols, 
tiSw?.a^  (idola  tribus,  speciis,  fbri,  theatri  of  Ld.  Bacon)  of  the  senses  and 
the  understanding.  I  refer  to  tliis  as  an  instance  merely,  by  which  every 
one  may  verify  for  himself  the  above  charges  of  ignorance  and  misappre- 
hension. 

I  have  been  willing  to  dwell  the  longer  on  this  subject,  because  it  is  obvi- 
ously one  of  great  practical  importance  to  the  cause  of  education  among  us. 
If  it  be  a  fact,  that  the  system  of  Plato,  and  tha  of  Lord  Bacon,  are  essen- 
tially one  and  the  same,  and  that  both  have  been  grossly  misapprehended, 
while  a  system  of  supei-ficial  and  idea-less  materialism  has  been  unwar- 
rantably associated  with  the  name  and  authority  of  the  latter,  it  is  surely 
time  for  the  students  in  our  Colleges  and  Universities  to  seek  a  knowledge 
of  Plato's  ideas,  and  of  Bacon's  laws,  from  Plato  and  Ld.  Bacon  themselves, 
rather  than  from  the  popular  philosophers  of  the  day. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  Appendix  to  this  Volume  will  be  found  to 
have  a  bearing  upon  the  subject  of  tliis  note. — Am.  Ed.] 

[51]  p.  119. 

In  a  letter  to  a  Friend  on  the  mathematical  Atheists  of  the  French  Re- 
volution, La  Lande  and  others,  or  rather  on  a  young  man  of  cUstinguished 
abilities,  but  an  avowed  and  proselyting  Partizan  of  their  Tenets,  I  conclu- 
ded with  these  words :  "  The  man  who  will  believe  nothmg  but  by  force 
of  demonstrative  evidence  (even  though  it  is  strictly  demonstrable  tl^it  the 
demonstrability  required  would  countervene  all  the  puqjoses  of  the  Truth 
in  question,  all  that  render  the  belief  of  the  same  desirable  or  obligatory) 
is  not  in  a  state  of  mind  to  be  reasoned  with  on  any  subject.  But  if  he 
further  denies  the  fact  of  the  Law  of  Conscience,  and  the  essential  differ- 
ence between  Right  and  Wrong,  I  confess,  he  puzzles  me.  I  cannot  with- 
out gross  inconsistency  appeal  to  his  Conscience  and  Moral  Sense,  or  I 
should  admonish  him  that,  as  an  honest  man,  he  ought  to  advertise  himself 
with  a  Cavete  omnes !  Scelus  sum.  And  as  an  honest  man  myself,  I 
dare  not  advise  him  on  prudential  grounds  to  keep  his  opinions  secret,  lest 
I  should  make  myself  his  accomplice,  and  be  helping  him  on  with  a  Wrap- 
rascal. 


292  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

[Many  persons,  who  have  never  carefully  reflected  upon  the  grounds  of 
then-  belief  in  the  Being  and  Attributes  of  God,   or  learned  to  distinguisli 
between  those  which  are  subjective,  in  the  reason  and  conscience,  and  to 
be  learned  by  reflection,  (see  note  10)  and  those  wliich  are  objective,  in  tlie 
order  and  apparent  purj^ose  discovered  in  the  world  without,  may  at  first 
be  suq^rised  at  the  declarations  of  the  author  in  the  passage,  to  which  tiiis 
note  belongs.    A  careful  examination  however,  of  all  his  language  rcvspect- 
ing  this  subject  and  topics  nearly  comiected  with  it,  in  this  passage,  in 
notes  43  and  59,  and  in  the  Appendix,  will  satisfy  them,  I  thmk,  not  only 
that  his  views  are  not  designed,  but  that  they  have  no  tendency  to  weak- 
en and  misettle  our  faith.    According  to  his  view  of  tlie  subject,  tlie  true 
and  abiding  gi'ound  of  all  efficient  and  living  faith  in  the  Being  and  Attri- 
butes of  the  one  holy,  all-perfect  and  personal  God,  is  to  be  found  not  in 
data,  facts  given  (see  p,  177)  from  witliout,  but  by  reflectmg  on  and  deve- 
loping the  inward  and  inalienable  law  of  our  own  rational  and  personal 
being.     The  idea  of  God  being  thus  formed,  and  a  coiTes])onding  object- 
ive reality  believed  in,   on  otlier  grounds,   such  a  work  as  Paley's  Natural 
Theology  may  do  much  to  illustrate  his  ])ower  and  skill,  as  manifested  in 
the  works  of  his  hands,  but  could  never  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  mind 
really  sceptical  the  existence  of  a  fii*st  cause  coiTesponding  to  the  rational 
idea  of  God.     Is  it  not  indeed  a  fact,  notwithstanding  the  abundant  com- 
mendation bestowed  upon  the  work  of  Dr.  Paley,  the  dependence  placed 
upon  it  in  our  systems  of  instruction,  and  the  assertion,  that  a  mind  un- 
satisfied with  this  argimient  is  not  to  be  satisfied  at  all — ^is  it  not  a  fact,  I 
say,  that  many  young  men  of  ingenuous  minds,  but  at  the   same  time  lo- 
gical and  critical  in  their  enquiries,  are  lefi;  unsatisfied  with  tlie  results  of 
the  work.     I  fear  there  are  many  who,  having  been  taught  that  this  is  the 
great  and  triumphant  argument,  the  sure  ground,  on  which  a  behef  in  the 
existence  of  God  depends,  find  their  faith  rather  weakened  by  it  than  con- 
firmed, or  at  best  lose  more  in  regard  to  their  views  of  his  character,  than 
they  gaui  in  their  belief  of  his  existence.     It  enters,  we  must  remember, 
into  the  very  nature   of  the  argument,  which  Paley  has   developed,  and 
perhaps  no  one  could  have  done  it  more  justice,  the  argument  from  effects 
to  their  causes,  I  mean,  that  we  can   only  infer  the  existence  of  a  cause 
adequate  to  the   production  of  the  effect.    Now  what  is  the   effect,  for 
which  Dr.  Paley  seeks  a  cause,  and  from  which  he  infers  the  existence  of 
God  ?     Simply  the  manifesta'ion  of  design,  of  an  intelligent,  perhaps  also 
a  benevolent  purpose,  m  the  works  of  nature.  The  cause  therefore,  accor- 
ding to  Dr.  Paley,   is  an  intelligent,  probably  a  benevolent   cause  ;  a  being 
or  a  power  capable   of  forethought,  of  forming  a  purpose  and  of  adapting 
means  to  the  accomplishment  of  its  purpose.    So  far  too  as  we  can  judge, 
and  so  far  as  the  practical  pur]ioses  of  the  argument  are  concerned,   this 
causative  agency  is  unhmited  in  the  choice  of  its  ends,   and  carries  them 
into  effect  with   infinite  ])owcr  and  skill.     This  seems  to  me   to  be  a  fair 


NOTES.  293 

statement  of  the  inference  even  in  Dr.  PaJjy's  view  of  tlie  sii])ject.  But 
does  the  cause  thus  infeiTed  answer  to  our  idea  of  an  all-perfect  and  per- 
sonal God  ? 

To  one  acquainted  with  the  distinctions  unfolded  by  Coleridge  in  subse- 
quent parts  of  this  work,  it  would  convey  my  view  of  the  subject,  to  say 
that  the  cause  here  infeiTed  corresponds  in  kind  to  the  powers  of  the  un- 
derstandmg  and  the  faculty  of  selection,  but  does  not  necessarily  involve 
accordmg  to  the  terms  of  the  argument  the  distinguishing  attributes  of 
pei-sonaUty,  viz.  reason,  self-conciousness,  and  free-will.  But  as  the  read- 
er is  not  supposed  to  have  adojjted  those  disthictions,  I  beg  him  to  con- 
sider whether  we  have  not  experience,  that  a  power,  the  same  in  kind 
with  that  to  which  Dr.  Paley's  argument,  if  taken  stiictly,  leads  us,  may 
exist  independently  and  fi-ee  from  any  supposed  conjunction  with  the  at- 
tributes, whatever  they  are,  which  constitute  ])ersonality.  For  proof,  that 
we  have,  I  refer  hun  to  the  passage  of  this  work  in  pp.  137 — 154,  and  if  in 
connexion  with  this  he  will  carefully  and  candidly  reflect  on  the  notion 
which  he  attaches  to  the  words  person  and  personality,  and  why  it  is,  that 
his  reason  revolts  at  the  thought  of  addressing  a  brute,  as  a  personal  and 
responsible  being,  however  remarkable  his  powers  may  be  as  a  brute,  he 
cannot  but  be  convinced,  that  there  is  something  in  personality  and  the  at- 
tributes constituting  it,  which  lays  the  ground  of  a  most  sacred  and  im  io- 
lable  distinction.  He  will  be  convinced  that  no  possible  addition  to  the 
degree  of  those  powers,  which  belong  in  common  to  rational  and  irrational 
beings,  could  ever  invest  a  brute  agent  with  the  attributes  of  personaMty ; 
that  there  must  therefore  be  a  difference  in  kind,  and  not  in  degree  only, 
between  those  beings  to  which  the  notion  of  personality  attaches,  and 
those  to  which  we  cannot  apply  it  without  a  conscious  feeling  of  its  ab- 
surdity ;  and  that  there  must  be  a  very  great  defect  and  uiadequacy  in  an 
argument  for  the  existence  of  God,  which  proves  at  best  only  the  exis- 
tence of  a  power,  which  inay  or  may  not  co-exist  with  personality. 

In  his  chapter  on  the  personality  of  the  Divine  Being,  Dr.  Paley  says  : 
"  CONTRIVANCE,  if  established,  a})pears  to  me  to  prove  every  thing,  which 
we  wish  to  prove.  Amongst  other  things  it  proves  the  personalitij  of  the 
Deity.  That,  which  can  contrive,  which  can  design,  must  be  a  person." 
Now  let  me  ask  any  reader  to  examine  the  proofs  refeiTed  to  above,  or  to 
recall  the  facts  of  his  own  experience,  and  say,  whether  irrational,  brute 
beings  do  not  contiive,  ^^'hether  they  do  not  design,  whether  they  do  not 
perceive,  an  €7id,  provide  means,  and  direct  them  to  tlieir  end ;  and  whether, 
if  they  can  and  do  manifest  these  powers,  it  will  follow  that  they  ai*e  per- 
sons. If  it  be  a  difference  of  degi*ees  merely,  there  is  surely  fai*  less  dif- 
ference between  brutes  and  men,  than  between  man  and  his  creator ;  and 
there  could  not  be  the  absurdity,  which  we  should  nevertheless  be  con- 
scious of  committing,  in  extending  the  term  to  them.  If  it  be  not  a  dif- 
ference of  degrees,  if  i)crsonality  involves  a  difibrcnce  in  kind,  and  a  dif- 
ference, which  is  the  ground  of  a  vast  and   most  sacred  (.Ustinction,  then 


291  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Dr.  Paley's  argument  seems  to  me  to   fall  far  short   of  proving  the  exist- 
ence of  a  l)eing  corresponding  to  the  rational  idea  of  God. 

The  truth  is  the  argument  from  effect  to  cause  in  this  case,  as  presented 
by  Dr.  Paley,  includes  two  distinct  things.  It  infers  Jlrst  the  existence  of 
a  cause  adequate  to  the  effect.  This  we  do  by  virtue  of  a  proposition, 
which,  though  synthetic,  results  from  the  inherent  fonns  or  laws  of  the 
human  understanding,  and  is  the  necessary  ground  of  experience.  (See 
note  67).  But  secondly  it  infers  the  existence  of  a  cause  corresponding  in 
its  subjective  character,  or  as  it  is  in  itself,  to  the  character  of  the  effect,  or  at 
least  of  a  cause  analogous  to  loiown  causes,  which  produce  similar  effects. 
Now  the  question  arises,  whether  in  either  case  the  inference  is  authorized 
or  required  by  the  same  laws  of  thought  in  the  imderstanding,  as  the  first  in- 
ference. We  see  certain  effects,  means  adapted  to  ends  &c.,  where  the  cau- 
sative agency  is  put  forth  by  men,  by  rational,  personal  agents.  We  disco- 
ver similar  effects  in  the  works  of  nature,  which  must  be  traced  to  an  invisi- 
ble, unknown  cause.  How  far  are  we  directed  by  the  authority  of  reason, 
or  required  by  the  laws  of  the  understanding,  to  infer  the  nature  of  the 
cause  here  from  the  nature  of  the  effect,  or  from  the  similarity  of  the  effects 
in  the  two  cases  to  infer  a  similarity  of  the  unknown  cause  to  that  which 
is  known?  Dr.  Paley's  inference  is,  that  the  unknown  cause  is  an  intelligent, 
personal  agent,  corresponding  in  kind  to  the  highest  known  agency,  which 
produces  similar  effects.  But  we  have  seen,  I  think,  that  similar  effects 
may  be  produced  by  a  power  inferior  in  kind,  neither  rational,  nor  person- 
al. How  then  do  we  know,  or  how  can  Ave  learn  by  this  process  of  ar- 
guing, that  the  unknown  cause  of  those  effects,  which  Dr.  Paley  has  ex- 
hibited, that  the  mysterious  and  dread  ground  of  being  in  all,  that  exists 
and  that  Ave  call  nature,  is  not  a  necessitated  as  well  as  a  necessary  Being 
or  that  it  is  even  self-conscious  and  intelligent. 

If  now,  as  I  trust  will  be  the  case,  the  reader  shrinks  with  a  conscious 
feeling  of  dread  and  abhorrence  from  such  a  conclusion,  as  impious,  I 
would  earnestly  beg  of  him  not  to  charge  it  u])on  me,  and  at  the  same  time 
warn  him  not  to  ascribe  the  feeling,  which  such  a  conclusion  Avould  awa- 
ken, to  any  convictions  of  the  being  and  attributes  of  a  personal  God, 
which  the  supposed  strength  and  influence  of  Paley's  argument  may  have 
been  thought  to  produce.  That  faith  m  the  Being  of  God,  and  tliat  rever- 
ence for  his  holy  and  perfect  character,  in  virtue  of  which  we  shrink  from 
atheism,  as  a  violation  of  our  moral  being,  as  absurd  and  impious,  lie  far 
deeper,  than  those  convictions  of  the  mere  understanding,  "  the  faculty 
judging  according  to  sense,"  which  may  have  been  derived  from  the  argu- 
ment in  question. — Am.  Ed.] 

[52]  p.  124. 

Viriuni  ct  i)roprietatum,  qua^  non  nisi  dt;  jSuftstantibus  predicari  possunt, 
formis  si</?erstantibus  Attributio,  est  SurEKSTiTio. 


NOTES.  295 

[53J  p.  128. 


See  pp.  42—44. 


[The  reader  is  requested  to  connect  with  the  subject  of  this  Aphorism 
and  Comment,  also  note  29,  and  the  passage  in  the  text  at  i)p.  206 — 218. 
To  tliose,  who  wish  to  examine  closely  the  creed  of  the  author,  it  will  be 
of  use  also  to  refer  here  to  the  whole  article  on  Redemption,  Ijeginning  at 
p.  184.— Am.  Ed.] 

[54]   p.  134. 

[The  following  is  the  passage  refeired  to  in  the  text  extracted  from  his 
fii-st  Lay  Sermon  or  the  Statesman's  Manual. — Am.  Ed.] 

"  In  nothing  is  Scriptural  histoiy  more  strongly  contrasted  w  ith  the  his- 
tories of  highest  note  in  the  present  age,  than  in  its  freedom  from  the  hol- 
lowTiess  of  abstractions.  While  the  latter  present  a  shadow-fight  of  Things 
and  Quantities,  the  former  gives  us  the  histoiy  of  Men,  and  balances  the 
important  influence  of  indi\idual  Minds  with  the  previous  state  of  the 
national  morals  and  manners,  in  which,  as  constituting  a  specific  suscep- 
tibilit}'^,  it  presents  to  us  the  true  cause  both  of  the  Inuflence  itself,  and  of 
the  Weal  or  Woe  that  were  its  Consequents.  How  should  it  be  other- 
wise ?  The  histories  and  political  economy  of  the  present  and  preceding 
century  partake  in  the  general  contagion  of  its  mechanic  philosophy,  and 
are  the  product  of  an  unenhvened  generalizmg  Understanding.  In  the 
Scriptures  they  are  the  living  ediids  of  the  Imagination ;  of  that  reconci- 
ling and  mediatory  power,  which  incoi-porating  the  Reason  in  Images  of 
the  Sense,  and  organizing  (as  it  were)  the  flux  of  the  Senses  by  the  per- 
manence and  self-circling  energies  of  the  Reason,  gives  birth  to  a  system 
of  symbols,  hannonious  in  themselves,  and  consubstantial  with  the  truths, 
of  which  they  are  the  conductors.  These  are  the  Wheels  wliich  Ezekiel 
beheld,  when  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  him,  and  he  saw  visions  of 
God  as  he  sate  among  the  captives  by  the  riv^er  of  Chebar.  Whithersoever 
the  Spirit  ivas  to  go,  the  wheels  went,  and  thither  was  their  spint  to  go :  for 
the  spirit  of  the  living  creature  ivas  in  the  wheels  also.  The  truths  and  the 
symbols  that  represent  them  move  in  conjunction  and  form  the  living  cha- 
riot that  bears  up  (for  us)  the  throne  of  the  Divine  Humanity.  Hence,  by 
a  derivative,  indeed,  but  not  a  divided,  influence,  and  though  in  a  second- 
ary yet  in  more  than  a  metaphorical  sense,  the  Sacred  Rook  is  Avorihily 
intitled  the  word  of  god.  Hence  too,  its  contents  present  to  us  the  stream 
of  time  continuous  as  Life  and  a  symbol  of  Eternity,  inasmuch  as  the 
Past  and  the  Future  are  virtually  contained  in  the  Present.  According 
therefore  to  our  relative  position  on  its  banks  the  Sacred  History  becomes 
prophetic,  the  Sacred  Prophecies  historical,  while  the  power  and  substance 
of  both  inhere  in  its  Laws,  its  Promises,  and  its  Comminations.  In  the 
Scriptures  therefore  both  Facts  and  Persons  must  of  necessity  have  a  two- 


20G  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

fold  significance,  a  past  and  a  future,  a  temporaiy  and  a  pei-petual,  a  par- 
ticular and  a  luiiversal  application.  They  must  be  at  once  Portraits  and 
Ideals. 

Elieu!  paupertina  philosophia  in  paupertinam  religionem  ducit: — ^A 
}iunger-bitte]i  and  idea-less  philosophy  naturally  produces  a  starveling  and 
comfortless  religion.  It  is  among  the  miseries  of  the  present  age  that  it 
recognizes  no  medium  between  Literal  and  Metaphorical.  Faith  is  ei- 
ther to  be  buried  in  the  dead  letter,  or  its  name  and  honors  usurped  by 
a  counterfeit  product  of  the  mechanical  understanding,  which  in  the 
Ijlindncss  of  self-complacency  confounds  symbols  Avith  allegories.  Now 
an  Allegory  is  but  a  translation  of  abstract  notions  into  a  picture-language 
which  is  itself  nothing  but  an  absti-action  from  objects  of  the  senses ;  the 
princi})al  being  more  Avorthless  even  than  its  phantom  proxy,  both  alike 
unsubstantial,  and  the  former  shapeless  to  boot.  On  the  other  hand  a  Sym- 
bol (o  hir  afi  ravT),yopiyor)  is  characterized  by  a  translucence  of  the  Special 
in  the  Individual,  or  of  the  General  in  the  Especial,  or  of  the  Universal  in 
the  General.  Above  all  by  the  translucence  of  the  Eternal  through  and 
in  the  Temporal.  It  always  partakes  of  the  Reality  which  it  renders  in- 
telligible ;  and  while  it  enunciates  the  whole,  abides  itself  as  a  living  part 
in  that  Unity,  of  which  it  is  the  representative.  The  other  are  but  emj)ty 
echoes  which  the  fancy  arbitrarily  associates  with  apparitions  of  matter, 
less  beautiful  but  not  less  sliadowy  than  the  sloping  orchard  or  hill-side 
pasture-field  seen  in  the  transparent  lake  below.  Alas !  for  the  flocks  that 
are  to  be  led  forth  to  such  pastures !  ^^  It  shall  even  he  as  ivhen  the  hungry 
dreameih,  and  behold !  he  eateth ;  hat  he  ivakeih  and  his  so^d  is  empty :  or  as 
ivhen  the  thirsty  dreameth,  and  behold  he  dnnketh :  but  he  aivaketh  and  is  faint  /" 
(Isaiah  xxix.  8.)  O  !  that  we  would  seek  for  the  bread  which  was  given 
from  heaven,  that  we  should  eat  thereof  and  be  strengthened!  O  that  we 
would  draw  at  the  well,  at  which  the  flocks  of  our  forefathers  had  living 
water  drawn  for  them,  even  that  water  Avhich,  instead  of  mocking  the 
thirst  of  him  to  whom  it  was  given,  becomes  a  well  withm  himself  spring- 
ing up  to  life  everlasting ! 

When  we  reflect  how  large  a  part  of  our  present  knowledge  and  civil- 
ization is  owing,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  Bible  ;  when  we  are  com- 
pelled to  admit,  as  a  fact  of  histoiy,  that  tlie  Bible  has  been  the  main  Lev- 
er L*y  which  the  moral  and  intellectual  character  of  Europe  has  been  rais- 
ed to  its  present  comparative  height ;  we  should  be  struck,  methinks,  by 
the  marked  and  prominent  difl^erencc  of  this  Book  from  the  works  which  it 
is  now  the  fasliion  to  quote  as  guides  and  authorities  in  morals,  politics 
and  history.  I  will  point  out  a  few  of  the  excellencies  by  which  the  one 
is  disthignished,  and  shall  leave  it  to  your  own  judgment  and  recollection 
to  perceive  and  a[)p]y  the  contrast  to  the  productions  of  highest  name  in 
these  latter  days.  In  the  Bible  every  agent  appears  and  acts  as  a  self-sub- 
sisting individual :  each  has  a  life  of  its  own,  and  yet  all  ai*c  one  life.   The 


NOTES. 


297 


elements  of  necessity  and  free-will  are  reconciled  in  the  Iiigher  power  of 
an  onniipresent  Providence,  that  predestmates  the  whole  in  the  moral 
freedom  of  the  integral  parts.  Of  this  the  Bible  never  suffers  us  to  lose 
sight.  The  root  is  never  detached  from  the  gi'ound.  It  is  God  every 
where  :  and  all  creatures  confonn  to  liis  decrees,  the  righteous  by  perfor- 
mance of  tlie  law,  the  disobedient  by  the  suffeTance  of  the  penalty." 
[See  also  notes  33  and  66. — A^r.  Ed.] 

[55]  p.  135. 

[The  Essay  in  the  Friend  referred  to  in  the  text,  will  be  found  entire 
in  note  59,  and  the  Appendix  to  the  Statesnjan's  Manual,  in  the  Appendix 
to  this  volimie. — Am.  Ed.] 

[56]  p.  136. 

There  is  this  advantage    in  the  occasional  use  of  a  newly  minted 
term  or  title  expressing  the  doctrinal  schemes  of  particular  sects  or  parties, 
that  it   avoids  the  inconvenience  that  presses  on  either  side,   whether  we 
adopt  the  name  which  the  Party  itself  has  taken  up  to  express  it's  pecuhar 
tenets  by,  or  that  by  which  the  same  Party  is  designated  by  its  opponents. 
If  we  take  the  latter,  it  most  often  happens  that  either  the  pei*sons  are 
invidiously  aimed  at  in  the  designation  of  the  principles,  or  that  the  name 
implies  some  consequence  or  occasional  accompaniment  of  the  principles 
denied  by  the  parties    themselves,  as  applicable  to  them  collectively.    On 
the  other  hand,  con\inced  as  I  am,  that  cun-ent  appellations  are  never 
wholly  indifferent  or  inert ;  and  that,  when  employed  to  express  the  cha- 
racteristic Belief  or  Object  of  a  religious  confederacy,  they  exert  on  the 
Many  a  great  and  constant,  though  insensible,  influence ;  I  cannot  but  fear 
that  m  adopting  the  former  I  may  be  sacrificmg  the  interests  of  Truth  be- 
yond what  the  duties  of  courtesy  can  demand  or  justify.  In  a  tract  pubhshed 
in  the  year  1816,  I  have  stated  my  objections  to  tlie  word  Unitarians:  as  a 
name  which  in  its  proper  sense  can  belong  only  to  the  Maintainers  of  the 
Truth  impugned  by  the  persons,  who  have  chosen  it  as  then'  designation. 
"For  Unity  or  Unition,   and  indistinguishable  Unicity  or  sameness,  are 
incompatible  tenns.     We  never  speak  of  the  Unity  of  Attraction,  or  the 
Unity  of  Repulsion  ;  but  of  the  Unity  of  Attraction  and  Repulsion  in  each 
corpuscle.      Indeed,  the  essential  diversity  of  the  conceptions.  Unity  and 
Sameness,  was  among  the  elementaiy  principles  of  the  old  Logicians;  and 
Leibnitz  in  his  critique  on  Wissowaiius  has  ably  exposed  the  sophisms 
grounded  on  the  confusion  of  the  two  terms.      But  in  the  exclusive  sense, 
in  which  the  name.  Unitarian,  is  appropriated  by  the  Sect,  and  in  which 
they  mean  it  to  be  understood,  it  is  a  presumptuous  Boast  and  an  unchari- 
table calumny.    No  one  of  the  Churches  to  which  they  on  this  article  of 
the   Christian  Faith  stand  opposed,  Greek  or  Latin,  ever  adopted  the  term, 
Trini — or  Tri-uni-tarians  as  their  ordinary  and  proper  name :  and  had  it 

38 


298  AIDS   TO    REFLFX'TION. 

been  otherwise,  yet  Unity  is  assuredly  no  logical  Opposite  to  Tri-iniity, 
which  expressly  includes  it.  The  triple  Alliance  is  a  fortiori  Alliance. 
The  true  designation  of  their  characteristic  Tenet,  and  which  would  sim- 
ply and  inoffensively  express  a  fact  admitted  on  all  sides,  is  Psilanthropism 
or  the  assertion  of  the  mere  humanity  of  Christ." 

I  dare  not  hesitate  to  avow  my  regret,  that  any  scheme  of  doctrines  or 
tenets  should  be  the  subject  of  penal  law:  though  I  can  easily  con- 
ceive, that  any  scheme,  however  excellent  in  itself,  may  be  propagated, 
and  however  false  or  injurious,  may  be  assailed,  in  a  manner  and  by 
means  that  would  make  the  Advocate  or  Assailant  justly  punishable.  But 
then  it  is  the  manner,  the  means,  that  constitute  the  ciime.  The  merit  or 
demerit  of  ihe  Opinions  themselves  depends  on  their  originating  and  de- 
termining causes,  which  may  differ  in  every  different  Believer,  and  are 
certainly  known  to  Him  alone,  who  commanded  us — Judge  not,  lest  ye  be 
judged.  At  all  events,  in  the  present  state  of  the  Law,  I  do  not  see  where 
we  can  begin,  or  where  we  can  stop,  without  inconsistency  and  conse- 
quent hardship.  Judgmg  by  all  that  we  can  j)retend  to  know  or  are  en- 
titled to  mfer,  who  among  us  will  take  on  himself  to  deny  that  the  late 
Dr.  Priestley  was  a  good  and  benevolent  man,  as  sincere  in  his  love,  as  he 
was  intrepid  and  indefatigable  in  his  pursuit,  of  Truth?  Now  let  us  con- 
struct three  parallel  tables,  the  first  containing  the  Articles  of  Belief,  moral 
and  theological,  maintained  by  the  venerable  Hooker,  as  the  representative 
of  the  Estabhshed  Church,  each  article  being  distinctly  lined  and  number- 
ed ;  the  second  the  Tenets  and  Persuasions  of  Lord  Herbert,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  platonizing  Deists;  and  the  third,  those  of  Dr.  Priestley. 
Let  the  points,  in  which  the  second  and  third  agi-ee  with  or  differ  from 
the  first,  be  considered  as  to  the  comparative  number  modified  by  the 
comparative  weight  and  importance  of  the  several  points — and  let  any 
competent  and  upright  Man  be  appointed  the  Arbiter,  to  decide  according 
to  his  best  judgement,  without  any  reference  to  the  truth  of  the  opinions, 
which  of  the  two  differed  from  the  first  more  widely !  I  say  this,  well 
aware  that  it  would  be  abundantly  more  prudent  to  leave  it  unsaid.  But 
I  say  it  in  the  conviction,  that  the  liberality  in  the  adoption  of  admitted 
misnomers  in  the  naming  of  doctrinal  systems,  if  only  they  have  been 
negatively  legalized,  is  but  an  equivocal  proof  of  liberality  towards  the 
persons  who  dissent  from  us.  On  the  contrary,  I  more  than  suspect  that 
the  former  liberality  does  in  too  many  men  arise  from  a  latent  pre-dispo- 
sition  to  transfer  their  reprobation  and  intolerance  from  the  Doctrines  to 
the  Doctors,  from  the  BeUef  to  the  Believers.  Indecency,  Abuse,  Scoffing 
on  subjects  dear  and  awful  to  a'multitude  of  our  fellow-citizens — Appeals 
to  the  vanity,  appetites,  and  malignant  passions  of  ignorant  and  incompe- 
tent judges — ^these  are  flagrant  overt-acts,  condemned  by  the  Law  written 
in  the  heart  of  every  honest  man,  Jew,  Tin-k,  and  Christian.  These  are 
points  respecting  which  the  humblest  honest  man  feels  it  his  duty  to  hold 
himself  infallible,  and  dares  not  hesitate  in  giving  utterance  to  the  verdict 


NOTES.  299 

of  his  conscience,  in  the  Jury-box  as  fearlessly  as  by  his  fireside.  It  is  far 
otherwise  with  respect  to  matters  of  faith  and  inward  conviction :  and 
with  respect  to  these  I  say — Tolerate  no  Belief,  that  you  judge  false  and  of 
injiu'ious  tendency :  and  arrai^ai  no  Believer.  The  Man  is  more  and  other 
than  his  Belief:  and  God  only  knows,  how  small  or  how  large  a  part  of 
him  the  Belief  in  question  may  be,  for  good  or  for  evil.  Resist  every 
false  doctrine:  and  call  no  man  heretic.  The  false  doctrine  does  not 
necessarily  make  tlie  man  a  heretic  ;  but  an  evil  heart  can  make  any  doc- 
trine heretical. 

Actuated  by  these  principles,  I  have  objected  to  a  false  and  deceptive 
designation  in  the  case  of  one  System.  Pei"suaded,  that  the  doctrmes, 
enumerated  in  p.  127 — 128,  are  not  only  essential  to  the  Christian  Religion, 
but  those  which  contra-(hstinguish  the  religion  as  Christian^  I  merely 
repeat  this  persuasion  in  an  otlier  form,  when  I  assert,  that  (in  my  sense  of 
tlie  word.  Christian)  unitarianism  is  not  Christianity.  But  do  I  say,  that 
those,  who  call  themselves  Unitarians,  are  not  Christians?  God  forbid! 
I  would  not  think,  much  less  promulgate,  a  judgement  at  once  so  pre- 
sumptuous and  so  laicharitajjle.  Let  a  friendly  antagonist  retort  on  my 
scheme  of  faith,  in  the  like  manner :  I  shall  respect  him  all  the  more  for 
his  consistency  as  a  reasoner,  and  not  confide  the  less  in  his  kindness 
towards  me  as  his  Neighbour  and  Fellow-christimi.  This  latter  and  most 
endearing  name  I  scarcely  know  how  to  withhold  even  fi*om  my  friend, 
Hyman  Hurwitz,  as  often  as  I  read  what  every  Reverer  of  Holy  Writ  and 
of  the  English  Bible  ought  to  read,  his  admirable  ViNDiciiE  Hebraic^! 
It  has  trembled  on  the  verge,  as  it  were,  of  my  Ups,  every  time  I  have 
conversed  with  that  pious,  learned,  strong-minded,  and  single-hearted  Jew, 
an  Israehte  indeed  and  without  guile — 

Cujus  cura  sequi  naturam,  legibus  uti, 
Et  rnentem  vitiis,  ora  negare  dolis ; 
Virtutes  opibus,  verum  prseponere  falso, 

Nil  vacuum  sensu  dicere,  nil  facere. 
Post  obitum  vivani  sccum,  secum  requiescam. 
Nee  fiat  melior  sors  mea  sorte  sua ! 

From,  a  poem  of  Hildehert  on  his  Master^ 
the  persecuted  Berengarius. 

Under  the  same  feelings  I  conclude  this  Aid  to  Rejlection  by  applying 
the  principle  to  another  misnomer  not  less  mappropriate  and  far  more  in  - 
fluential.  Of  those,  whom  I  have  fourd  most  reason  to  respect  and  value, 
many  have  been  members  of  the  Church  of  Rome :  aud  certainly  I  did  not 
honour  those  the  least,  who  scruplejl  even  in  common  parlance  to  call 
our  Church  a  Reformed  Church.  A  similar  scruple  woidd  not,  methinks, 
disgrace  a  protestant  as  to  the  use  of  the  words.  Catholic  or  Ronian 
Catholic ;  and  if  (tacitly  at  least,  and  in  thought)  he  remembered  that  the 


300  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Romish  Anti-catholic  Church  would  more  truly  express  the  fact. — Romish, 
to  mark  that  the  corruptions  in  discipline,  doctrine,  and  practice  do,  for  the 
far  larger  part,  owe  both  their  origin  and    perpetuation  to  the  Romish 
Cowi,  and  the  local  Tribunals  of  the  City  of  Rome;  and  neither  arc  or  ev- 
er have  been  Catholic,  i.  cuniversa],  throughout  the  Homairi  Empire,   or 
even  in  the  whole  Latin  or  Western  Church — and  Anti-catholic,  because 
no  other  Chm-ch  acts  on. so  narrow  and  excomniunicative  a  principle,  or 
is  characterized  by  such  a  jealous  spirit  of  monopoly.     Instead  of  a  Cath- 
olic (universal)  spirit  it  may   be  ti'uly  described  as  a  spirit  of  particularism 
counterfeitmg  CathoUcity  by  a  negative  totality  and  heretical   self-circiun- 
scription — in  the  fu-st  instances  cutting  off,  and  since  then  cutting  herself 
off  from,  all  the  other  members  of  Christ's  Body.     For  tlie   rest,   I   think 
as  that  mail  of  true  catholic    spirit  and  apostolic  zeal,  Richard  Baxter, 
tliought;  and  my  readers  will  thank  me  for  conveying  my  reflections  in  his 
own  words,  in  the  following  golden  passages  from  liis  Life,  "faithfully  pub- 
hshed  from  his  own  original  MSS.  by  Mathew  Sylvester,  1696." 

"  My  censures  of  the  Baptists  do  much  differ  from  what  they  W;'»re 
at  first  I  then  thought,  that  their  eiTors  in  tlie  doctrines  of  faith  were 
their  most  dangerous  mistakes.  But  now  I  am  assured  that  their  misex- 
pressions  and  misunderstanding  us,  with  our  mistakes  of  them  and  incon- 
venient expressions  of  our  own  opinions,  have  made  the  difference  in 
most  points  appear  much  gi'eater  than  it  is ;  and  that  in  some  it  is  next  to 
none  at  all.  But  the  great  and  unreconcilable  differences  lie  in  their 
Church  Tyranny ;  in  the  usuipations  of  their  Hierarchy,  and  Priesthood, 
under  tlie  name  of  spiritual,  authority  exercismg  a  temporal  Lordshij) ; 
in  their  corniptions  and  abasement  of  God's  Worship,  but  above  ail  in  their 
systematic  befriending  of  Ignorance  and  Vice. 

"  At  first  I  thought  that  Mr.  Perkins  well  proved,  that  a  Baptist  cannot 
go  beyond  a  reprobate ;  but  now  I  doubt  not  that  God  hath  many  sancti- 
fied ones  among  them  who  have  received  the  true  doctrine  of  Christianity 
so  practically  that  their  contradictory  errors  are  like  a  conquerable  dose  of 
I)oison  vs'hich  a  healthful  nature  doth  overcome.  And  I  can  neve?-  believe 
that  a  man  may  not  he  saved  hy  that  religion,  which  doth  bid  bnng  him  to  the 
true  love  of  God  and  to  a  heavenly  mind  and  life :  nor  that  God  ivill  ever  cast 
a  Sold  into  hell,  that  tndy  loveth  him.  Also  at  first  it  would  disgrace  any 
doctrme  witli  me  if  I  did  ])ut  hear  it  called  Popery  and  anti-christian ; 
but  I  have  long  learned  to  be  more  impartial,  and  to  know  that  Satan  can 
use  even  the  names  of  Popery  and  Antichrist,  to  bring  a  truth  into  sus- 
picion and  discredit." — Baxter's  Life,  part  I.  p.  13L 

[57]  }>.  143. 

According  as  we  attend  more  or  less  to  the  differences,  the  Sort  becomes, 
of  course,  more  or  less  compreher.sive.  Hence  there  arises  for  the  system- 
atic Naturahst  the  necessity  of  s  ibdividing  the  Sorts  into  Orders,  Classes, 


NOTES.  301 

Families,  &c. :  all  which,  however,  resolve  themselves  for  the  mere  Logi- 
cian into  the  conception  of  Genus  and  Species,  i.  e.  the  comprehending; 
and  the  comprehended. 

[58]  p.  144. 

Were  it  not  so,  how  could  the  first  comparison  have  been  possible  ?    It 
would  involve  the  absurdity  of  measuruig  a  tiling  by  itself.   But  if  we  fix  on 
,    some  one  thing,  the  length  of  our  own  foot,  or  of  our  hand  and  arm  from 
the  elbow  joint,  it  is  evident  that  in  order  to  do  this  we  must  have  the  con- 
ception of  Measure.     Now  these  antecedent  and  most  general  Conceptions 
are  what  is  meant  by  tlie  constituent /o/vjw  of  the  Understanding :  we  call 
them  constituent  because  they  are  not  acquired  l)y  the  Understanding,  but 
are  im})lied  m  its  constitution.     As  rationally  might  a  Circle  be  said  to  ac- 
quire a  centre  and  circumference,  as  the  Understanding  to  acquke  these 
its  inherent  forms,  or   ways  of  conceiving.     This  is  v/hat  Leibnitz  meant, 
when  to  the  old  adage  of  the  Peripatetics,  Nihil  m  intellectu  quod  non 
prius  m  Sensu  (  There  is  nothing  in  the  Understanding  not  derived   from 
the  Senses,  or — There  is   nothing  co?iceived  that  was  not  previously  ^per- 
ceived);   he  repUed — praetor  intellectum  ipsum  (except  the  understanding 
itself). 

And  here  let  me  remark  for  once  and  all :  whoever  would  reflect  to  any 
purpose — whoever  is  in  earnest  in  his  pursuit  of  Self-knowledge,  and  of 
one  of  the  principal  means  to  this,  an  insight  into  the  meaning  of  the 
words  he  uses  and  the  different  meanings  properly  or  improperly  conveyed 
by  one  and  the  same  word,  according  as  it  is  used  in  the  Schools  or  the 
Market,  according  as  the  kind  or  a  high  degree  is  intended  (ex.  gr.  Heat, 
Weight,  &c.   as  employed  scientifically,  compared  with  the  same  word 
used  popularly — whoever,  I  say,  seriously   proposes  this  as    his  Object, 
must  so  far  overcome  his  dishke  of  pedantiy,  and  his  dread  of  being  sneered 
at  as  a  Pedant,  as  not  to  quaiTel  with  an  uncouth  word  or  phrase,  till  lie  is 
quite  sure  that  some  other  and  more  familiar  would  not  only  have  expressed 
the  precise  meaning  with  equal  clearness,  but  have  been  as  likely  to  draw 
his  attention  to  this  meaning   exclusively.     The  ordinaiy  language  of  a 
Philosopher  in  conversation   or  popular  WTitings,  compared  with  the  lan- 
guage he  uses  in  strict  reasoning,  is  as  his  Watch  compared  with  the 
Chronometer  in  his  01)sei'vatoiy.      He  sets  the  former  by  the  Town-clock, 
or  even,  perhaps,  by  the  Dutch  clock  in  his  kitchen,  not  because  he  be- 
lieves it  right,  but  because   his  neighbours  and  his  Cook  go  by  it.     To  af- 
ford the  reader  an  opportunity  for  exercising  the  forbearance  here  recom- 
mended, I  turn  back  to  the  phrase,  "most  general  Conceptions,"  and  ob- 
serve, that  in  strict  and  severe  propriety  of  language   I   should  have  said 
gencralijic  or  genei-ific  ratlier  than  general,  and   Concipiences  or    Conceptive 
Acts  rather  than  conceptions. 
It  is  an   old  Complamt,  that  a   JMan  of  Genius  no    sooner    appears, 


303  AIDS  TO    REFLECTION. 

but  the  Host  of  Dunces  are  up  in  arms  to  repel  the  hivading  Alien.     This 
ohservation  would  have  made  more  couA^eits  to  its  truth,  I  suspect,  had  it 
been  worded  more  dispassionately,  and  with  a  less  contemptuous  antithe- 
sis.    For  "Dunces"  let  us  substitute  "  the   Many,'"  or  the  ''  bno;  y.onuog-' 
{this  ivoiid)  of  the  Apostle,  and  we  shall  perhaps  find  no  great  difficulty  m 
accounting  for  the  fact.     To  arrive  at  the  root,  indeed,  and  last  Ground  of 
the  problem,  it  would  be  necessary  to  investigate  the  nature  and  effects 
of  the  sense  of  Difference   on  the  human  mind  where  it  is  not  held  in 
check  by  Reason  and  Reflection.     We  need  not  go  to  the  savage  tiibes  of 
North  America,  or  the  yet  ruder  Natives  of  the  Indian  Isles,  to  learn  how 
slight  a  degi'ee  of  Difference  Avill,  in  uncultured  minds,  call  up  a  sense  of 
Diversity,  an  inward    pei-plexity    and  contradiction,  as  if  the  Strangers 
were  and  yet  were  not  of  tlie  same  kind  with  themselves.     Who  has  not 
had  occasion  to  obsei-ve  the  effect  which  the  gesticulations  and  nasal  tones 
of  a  Frenchman  produce  on  our   own  Vulgar?     Here  we  may  see  the 
origin  and  primary  imi)ort  of  our  "  Unkindness.''^     It  is  a  sense  of  Unkind, 
and  not  the  mere  negation   but  the  positive  Opposite  of  the  sense  of  kind. 
Alienation,  aggravated  now  by  fear,  now  b}'^  contempt,   and  not  seldom  by 
a  mixture  of  both,  aversion,  hatred,  enmity,  are  so  many  successive  shapes 
of  its  growth  and  metamorphosis.     In  application  to  the  present  case,  it  is 
sufficient  to  say,  that  Pindai''s  remark  on  sweet  Music  holds  equally  true 
of  Genius :  as  many  as  are  not   delighted  by  it  are  disturbed,  perplexed, 
irritated.     The   beholder   either  recognizes  it  as  a  projected  Form  of  his 
own  Being,  that  moves  before  him  with  a  Gloiy  round  its  head,  or  recoils 
from  it  as  from  a  Spectre.      But  this  si^eculation  would  lead  us  too  far ;  we 
must  be  content  with  having  referred  to  it  as  the  ultimate  ground  of  the 
fact,  and  pass  to  the  more  obvious  and  proximate  causes.     And  as  the  first 
I  would  rank   the  person's  not  understanding  what  yet  he  expects  to  un- 
derstand, and   as  if  he  had  a  right   to  do  so.     An  original  Mathematical 
Work,  or  any  other  that  requires  peculiar  and  (so  to  say)  technical  marks 
and  symbols,  will  excite  no  uneasy  feelings — not  ui  the  mind  of  a  compc 
tent  Reader,  for  he  understands  it;  and  not  with  others,  because  they  nei 
ther  expect  nor  are  expected  to  understand  it.    The  second  place  we  may 
assign  to  the  Jliwunderstanding,  which  is  almost  sure  to  follow  in   cases 
where  the  incompetent  person,  finding  no  outward  marks  (Diagrams,  ar- 
bitrary signs,  and  the  hke)  to  inform  him  at  first  sight,  that  the  subject  is 
one  which  he  does  not  pretend  to  understand,  and  to  be  ignorant  of  which 
does   not  deti'act  from  his  estimation  as  a   man  of  a1)ilities  generally,  ivilL 
attach  some  meaning  to  what  he   hears  or  reads  ;  and  as  he  is  out  of  hu- 
mour with  the  Author,  it   will  most  often  be  such  a  meaning  as    he  can 
quarrel  vvith  and  exliibit  in  a  ridiculous  or  offensive  point  of  view. 

But  above  all,  the  wliole  World  almost  of  IMinds,  as  far  as  regards  intel- 
lectual efforts,  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  of  the  Busy-mdolent  and 
Lazy-indolent.  To  both  alike  all  Thinking  is  painful  ;  and  all  attempts  to 
rouse  them  to  think,  whether  in  the  re-examination  of  their  existing  Con- 


NOTES.  oUo 

victions,  or  for  the  reception  of  new  light,  are  iiritating.  "It?nm/all  be 
very  deep  and  clever ;  but  really  one  ought  to  be  quite  sure  of  it  before 
one  vn-enches  one's  brain  to  find  out  what  it  is.  I  take  up  a  Book  as  a 
Companion,  with  whom  I  can  have  an  easy  cheerful  chit-chat  on  what  we 
both  know  beforehand,  or  else  matters  of  fact.  In  our  leisure  hours  we 
liave  a  right  to  relaxation  and  amusement." 

Well !  but  in  tlieir  studious  hours,  when  their  Bow  is  to  be  bent,  when 
they  are  apud  Musas,  or  amidst  the  Muses  ?  Alas !  it  is  just  the  same ! 
The  same  craving  for  amusement  i.  e.  to  be  away  from  the  Muses !  for  re- 
laxation, i.  e.  the  unbending  of  a  Bow  which  in  foct  had  never  been  strung ! 
There  are  two  ways  of  obtaining  their  applause.  The  fii'st  is :  Enable 
them  to  reconcile  in  one  and  the  same  occupation  the  love  of  Sloth  and  the 
hatred  of  vacancy !  Gratify  mdolence,  and  yet  save  them  from  Ennui — 
in  plam  English,  from  themselves !  For,  spite  of  their  antipathy  to  dinj  rea- 
ding, the  keeping  company  with  themselves  is,  after  all,  the  insufferable 
annoyance  :  and  the  true  secret  of  their  dislike  to  a  work  of  Thought  and 
Inquiiy  lies  in  its  tendency  to  make  them  acquainted  with  their  own  per- 
manent Being.  The  other  road  to  their  favour  is  to  introduce  to  them 
their  o^vn  thoughts  and  predilections,  tricked  out  in  the  Jine  language,  in 
w^hich  it  would  gratify  their  vanity  to  express  them  in  their  own  convcr- 
versation,  and  with  which  they  can  imagine  themselves  shoiving  off:  and 
this  (as  has  been  elsewhere  remarked)  is  the  characteristic  difference  be- 
tween the  second-rate  Writers  of  the  last  two  or  three  generations,  and 
the  same  class  under  Elizabeth  and  the  Stuarts.  In  the  latter  we  find  the 
most  far-fetched  and  singular  thoughts  m  the  simplest  and  most  native 
language  ;  in  the  former  the  most  obvious  and  common-place  thoughts  in 
the  most  far-fetched  and  motley  language.  But  lastly,  and  as  the  sine  qua 
non  of  theii-  patronage,  a  sufficient  arc  must  be  left  for  the  Reader's  mind 
to  oscillate  in — freedom  of  choice, 

To  make  the  shifting  cloud  be  what  you  please, 
save  only  where  the  attraction  of  Curiosity  determines  the  line  of  Motion 
The  Attention  must  not  be  fastened  down :  and  this  every  work  of  Gen- 
ius, not  shnply  narrative,  must  do  before  it  can  be  justly  appreciated. 

In  former  times  a  popidar  work  meant  one  that  adapted  the  residts  of 
studious  Meditation  or  scientific  Research  to  the  capacity  of  the  People, 
presenting  in  the  Concrete,  by  instances  and  examples,  what  had  been  as- 
certained in  the  Abstract  and  by  discoveiy  of  tiie  Law.  J\''ow  on  the  other 
hand,  that  is  a  popular  Work  which  gives  back  to  the  People  their  o^vn 
errors  and  prejudices,  and  flatters  the  Many  by  creating  them,  under  the 
title  of  THE  PUBLIC,  into  a  supreme  and  mappellable  Tribunal  of  intellectu- 
al Excellence.  P.  S.  in  a  continuous  work,  the  frequent  msertion  and 
length  of  Notes  would  need  an  Apology :  in  a  book  of  Aphorisms  and  de- 
tached Comments  none  is  necessary,  it  being  understood  beforehand,  that 
the  Sauce  and  the  Garnish  are  to  occupy  the  greater  part  of  the  Dish. 

S.  T.  C. 


304  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

[59]  p.  145. 

Take  a  familiar  illustration.  My  Sight  and  Touch  convey  to  me  a 
certain  impression,  to  which  my  Under^an ding  applies  it's  pre-conceptions 
{conceptus  antecedenies  et  generalissimi)  of  Quantity  and  Relation,  and  thus 
refers  it  to  the  Class  and  Name  of  tliree-cornered  Bodies — we  will  sup- 
pose it  the  Iron  of  a  Turf-spade .  It  compares  the  sides,  and  finds  that 
any  two  measured  as  one  are  greater  than  the  third ;  and  according  to  a 
law  of  the  imagination,  there  arises  a  presumption  that  in  all  other  Bodies 
of  the  same  figure(i.  c.  three-cornered  and  equilateral)  the  same  proportion 
exists.  After  this,  the  senses  have  heen  directed  successively  to  a  number 
of  three-cornered  bodies  of  unequal  sides — and  in  these  too  the  same  pro- 
portion has  been  found  without  exception  till  at  length  it  becomes  a 
fact  of  experience,  that  in  all  Triangles,  hitherto  seen,  the  two  sides  are 
greater  than  the  third :  and  there  will  exist  no  ground  or  analogy  for  an- 
ticipating an  exception  to  a  Rule,  generalized  from  so  vast  a  number  of 
particular  instances.  So  far  and  no  farther  could  the  Understanding  cany 
us  :  and  as  far  as  this  "the  facidty,  judging  according  to  sense,"  conducts 
many  of  the  infeiior  animals,  if  not  in  the  same,  yet  instances  analogous 
and  fully  equivalent. 

The  Reason  supersedes  the  whole  process :  and  on  the  first  conception 
presented  by  the  Understanding  in  consequence  of  the  first  sight  of  a  tri- 
angular Figure,  of  whatever  sort  it  might  chance  to  be,  it  affirms  with  an 
assurance  incapable  of  future  increase,  Avith  a  perfect  certainty,  that  in  all 
possible  Triangles  any  two  of  the  inclosing  liines  will  and  must  be  greater 
than  the  third.  In  short,  Understanding  in  its  highest  form  of  Experience 
remains  commensurate  with  the  experimental  notices  of  the  senses,  from 
which  it  is  generalized.  Reason,  on  the  other  hand,  either  predetermines 
Experience,  or  avails  itself  of  a  past  Experience  to  supersede  its  necessity 
in  all  future  time ;  and  affirms  truths  which  no  Sense  could  perceive,  nor 
Experiment  verify,  nor  Experience  confirm. 

Yea,  this  is  the  test  and  character  of  a  truth  so  affirmed,  that  in  its  own 
proper  form  it  is  inconceivable.  For  to  conceive  is  a  function  of  the  Under- 
standing, which  can  be  exercised  only  on  subjects  subordinate  thereto. 
And  yet  to  the  forms  of  the  Understanding  all  truth  must  be  reduced,  that 
is  to  be  fixed  as  an  object  of  reflection,  and  to  be  rendered  expressible. 
And  here  we  have  a  second  test  and  sign  of  a  truth  so  affirmed,  that  it  can 
come  forth  out  of  the  moulds  of  the  Understanding  only  in  the  disguise  of 
two  contradictory  conceptions,  each  of  which  is  partially  true,  and  the 
conjunction  of  both  conceiDtions  becomes  the  representative  or  expression 
(r=the  exponent)  of  a  truth  beyond  conception  and  inexpressible.  Exam- 
ples. Before  Abraham  was,  I  am. — God  is  a  Circle  whose  centre  is  eveiy 
where  and  circumference  no  where. — The  Soul  is  all  in  every  part. 

If  this  appear  extravagant,  it  is  an  extravagance  which  no  man  can  in- 
deed leurn  from  another,  but  which  (were  this  possible)  I  might  have 


NOTES. 


305 


learnt  from   Plato,    Kepler,    and  Bacon;  from   Luther,  Hooker,  Pascal, 
Leibnitz,  and  Fenelon.    But  in  this  last   paragraph  I   have,  I  see,  un- 
wittingly overstepped  my  purpose,  according  to  which  we  were  to   take 
Reason  as  a  simply  intellectual  power.      Yet  even  as  such,  and  with  all 
the  disadvantage  of  a  technical  and  arbitrary  Abstraction,  it  has   been 
made  evident — 1.  tliat  there  is  an  intuition  or  immediate  Beholding,  ac- 
companied by  a  conviction  of  the  necessity  and  universality  of  the  truth 
so  beheld  not  derived  from  the  Senses,  which  Intuition,  when  it  is  con- 
strued by  pure  Sense,  gives  birth  to  the  Science  of  Mathematics,  and  when 
applied  to  Objects  supersensuous  or  spiritual,  is  the  Organ  of  Theology 
and   Philosophy ; — and  2.  that  there   is  hkewise  a  reflective  and  discursive 
Faculty,  or  mediate  Apprehension,  which,  taken  by  itself  and  uninfluenced 
by  the  former,  depends  on  the  Senses  for  the  Materials  on  which  it  is 
exercised,  and  is  contained  within  the  Sphere  of  the  Senses.    And  this 
Faculty  it  is,  which,  in  generalizing  the  Notices  of  the  Senses,  constitutes 
Sensible   Experience,  and  gives  rise  to  Maxims   or  Rules,  which  may 
become  more   and  more  genercd,  but  can  never  be  raised  to  universal 
Verities,  or  beget  a  consciousness  of  absolute  Certainty ;  though  they  may 
be  sufficient  to  extinguish  all  doubt.    (Putting  Revelation  out  of  view, 
take  our  first  Progenitor  in  the   50th  or  100th  year  of  his  existence.    His 
Experience  would  probably  have  freed  him  from  all  doubt,  as    the  Sun 
sunk  in  the  Horizon,  that  it  would  re-appear  the  next  morning.    But  com- 
pare this  state  of  Assurance  with  that  which  the  same  man  would  have 
had  of  the  37th  Proposition  of  Euclid,  supposing  him  like  Pythagoras  to 
have  discovered  the  Demonstration).    Now  is  it  expedient,  I  ask,  or  con- 
formable to  the  laws  and  purposes  of  Language,  to  call  two  so  altogether 
disparate  Subjects  by  one  and  the   same  name  ?   Or,  having  two  names 
in  our  language,  should  we  call  each  of  the  two  diverse  subjects  by  both 
— i.  6.  by  either  name,  as  caprice  might  dictate  ?  If  not,  then  as  we  have 
the  two  words.  Reason  and  Understanding  (as  indeed  what  Language  of 
cultivated  Man  has  not?)  what  should  prevent  us  from  appropriating  the 
former  to  the  Power  distinctive   of  Humanity  ?  We  need  only  place  the 
derivatives  from  the  two  terms  in  opposition  {ex.  gr.  "A  and  B  are  both 
rational  Beings ;   but  there  is  no  comparison  between   them  in  point   of 
intelligence^''  or  "  She  always  concludes  rationally^  though  not  a  Woman  of 
much  Understanding^^)  to  see,  that  we  cannot  reverse  the  order — i.  e,  call  the 
higher  Gift  Understanding,  and  the  lower.  Reason.     What  should  prevent 
us — I  asked.    Alas!  that  which  has  prevented  us — ^the  cause  of  this  confu- 
sion in  the  terms — ^is  only  too  obvious :   viz.  inattentio'n  to  the  momentous 
distinction  in  the  things,  and  (generally)  to  the  duty  and  haliit  recommend- 
ed in  the  Vth  Introductory  Aphorism  of  this  Volume,  {see  ]).  2.)    But  the 
cause  of  this,  and  of  all  its  lamentable  Effects  and  Subcauscs,  "false  doc- 
trine, blindness  of  Heart  and  contempt  of  the  Word,'Msbest  declared  by-  the 
philosophic  Aposde  :  "  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge," 

39 


306  AIDS  TO    REFLECTION. 

(Rom.  i.  28,)  and  though  they  could  not  extinguish  "the  Light  that  hghteth 
every  man,''^  and  which  "  slione  in  the  Daikness ;"  yet  because  the  Dark 
ness  could  not  comprehend  the  Light,  they  refused  to  bear  witness  of  the 
Light,  and  worshipped,  instead,  the  shaping  Mist,  wliich  the  Light  had 
drawn  upward  from  the  Ground  (i.  e.  from  the  mere  Animal  nature  and 
instinct),  and  which  that  Light  alone  had  made  visible  (i.  e.  by  super-indu- 
cing on  the  animal  instinct  the  piinciple  of  Self-consciousness). 

[The  subject  of  the  Comment  to  which  this  note  is  attached,  and  of  tlie 
note  itself,  I  consider,  and  it  is  indeed  represented  by  the  author,  as  veiy 
essential  to  the  right  apprehension  of  the  whole  system.  The  distinction 
between  reason  and  tlie  understanding,  and  that  between  nature  and  the 
free-will,  are  indeed  the  ground  of  all  that  is  most  peculiar  and  important 
in  the  author's  views ;  and  I  have  wished  particularly  to  aid  the  reader,  as 
far  as  may  be,  in  obtaining  a  distinct  notion  of  their  import.  The  passages, 
which  best  illustrate  the  latter  distinction,  were  referred  to  in  note  29  ;  and 
I  propose  to  bring  together,  here,  the  means  of  illustrating  the  former,  so 
far  as  I  can  well  find  them  in  the  works  of  the  author.  The  following  Es- 
say is  the  one  referred  to,  p.  135  and  note  55,  and  is  fi-om  the  Friend,  vol. 
1,  p.  263 — ^277.  In  connexion  with  it  the  reader  is  requested  to  peruse 
note  [C]  in  the  appendix  to  the  Statesman's  Manual,  near  the  end  of  this 
volume.    See  also  note  43,  and  the  references  there  made,  and  note  ^, 

"  In  the  Appendix  to  his  first  Lay  Sermon,  the  Author  has  indeed  treat- 
ed the  question  at  considerable  length,  but  chiefly  in  relation  to  the  heights 
of  Theology  and  Metaphysics.  In  the  next  number  he  attempts  to  ex- 
plain himself  more  popularly,  and  trusts  that  with  no  great  expenditure  of 
attention  the  reader  will  satisfy  his  mind,  that  our  remote  ancestors  spoke 
as  men  acquainted  with  the  constituent  parts  of  then*  own  moral  and  in- 
tellectual being,  when  they  described  one  man  as  being  out  of  his  senses^ 
another  as  out  of  his  tvits,  or  deranged  in  his  understanding,  and  a  third  as 
having  lost  his  reason.  Observe,  the  imderstanding  may  be  deranged,  iveak- 
ened,  or  perverted;  but  the  reeison  is  either  lost  or  not  lost,  that  is,  wholly 
present  or  wholly  absent*" 

ESSAY. 

Man  may  rather  be  defined  a  religious  than  a  rational  character,  in  re- 
gard that  in  other  creatures  there  may  be  something  of  Reason,  but  there 
is  nothing  of  Religion.  Harrington. 

If  the  Reader  will  substitute  the  word  "  Understanding"  for  "  Reason," 
and  the  word  "  Reason"  for  "  Religion,"  Harrington  has  Iiere  completely 
expressed  the  Truth  for  which  the  Friend  is  contending.  But  that  this 
was  Harrington's  meaning  is  evident.  Otherwise  instead  of  comparing 
two  faculties  with  each  other,  he  woidd  contrast  a  facidty  with  one  of  its 
own  objects,  which  would  involve  the  same  absurdity  as  if  he  had  said. 


NOTES. 


307 


that  man  might  rather  be  defined  an  astronomical  than  a  seeing  animal, 
because  other  animals  possessed  the  sense  of  Sight,  but  were  incapable 
of  beholding  the   satellites  of  Saturn,  or  the  nebula?  of  fixed   stars.     If 
further  confirmation  be  necessary,  it  may  be  supplied  by  the  following  re- 
flection,  the  leading  thought  of  which  I  remembe^r  to  have  read  in  the 
works  of  a  continental  Philosoi)her.     It  should  seem  easy  to  give  tlic  de- 
finite distinction  of  the  Reason  from  the  Underetanding,  because  we  con- 
stantly imply  it  when  we  speak  of  the  difference  between  ourselves  and 
the  brute  creation.    No  one,  except  as  a  figure  of  speech,  ever  speaks  of 
an  animal  reason  ;*  but  that  many  animals  possess  a  share  of  Understand- 
ing, perfectly  distinguishable  from  mere  Instinct,  we  all  allow.   Few  persons 
have  a  favorite  dog  wiUiout  making  mstances  of  its  intelhgence  ;an  occa- 
sional topic  of  conversation.     They  call  for  our  admiration  of  the  mdivid- 
ual  animal,  and  not  with  exclusive  reference  to  the  Wisdom  in  Nature,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  slorg^  or  maternal  instinct  of  beasts ;  or  of  the  hexan- 
gular  cells  of  the  bees,  and  the  wondei-ful  coincidence  of  tliis  form  with 
the  geometrical  demonstration  of  the  largest  jiossible  number  of  rooms  hi 
a  given  space.     Likewise,  we  distinguish  various  degrees  of  Understanding 
there,  and  even  discover,  from  inductions  supplied  by  the  Zoologists,  that 
the  Understanding  appears  (as  a  general  rule)  in  an  inveree  proportion  to 
the  Instinct.    We  hear  little  or  nothing  of  the  instincts  of  "the  half-rea- 
soning elephant,"  and   as  little  of  the  Understanding  of  Caterpillars   and 
Buttei-flies.     (N.  B.    Though  reasoning  does  not  in  our  language,  in  the 
lax  use  of  words  natural  in  conversation  or  populai'  writings,  imply  scien- 
tific conclusion,  yet  the  phrase  "half-reasoning"  is  evidently  used  by  Pope 
as  a  poetic  hyperbole.)     But  reason  is  wholly  denied,  equally  to  the  high- 
est as  to  the  lowest  of  the  brutes  ;  otherwise  it  must  be  wholly  attriljuted 
to  them,  and  witli  it  therefore  Self-consciousness,  and  personality^  or  Moral 
Being." 
I  should  have  no  objection  to  defmc  Reason  with  Jacobi,  and  with  his 


*I  have  this  moment  looked  over  a  Translation  of  Blumenbach's  Physi- 
ology by  Dr.  Elliotson,  which  forms  a  gkmug  excepiwn,  p.  45.  I  do  not 
know  Dr.  Elliotson,  but  I  do  know  Professor  Blumenbach,  and  was  an  as- 
siduous attendant  on  the  Lectures,  of  which  this  classical  work  was  the 
text-book :  and  I  know  that  that  good  and  great  man  would  start  back 
with  surprise  and  indignation  at  the  gross  materialism  morticed  on  to  his 
work  :  the  more  so  because  during  the  whole  period,  in  which  the  identi- 
fication of  Man  with  the  Brute  in  kind  was  the  fashion  of  Naturalists,  Blu- 
menbach remained  ardent  and  instant  in  controverting  the  opinion,  aad 
exposing  its  fallacy  and  falsehood,  both  as  a  man  of  sense  and  as  a  Natu- 
ralist. I  may  truly  say,  that  it  was  uppermost  in  his  heart  and  foremost  in 
his  speech.  Therefore^  and  from  no  hostile  feeling  to  Dr.  Elliotson  (whom 
I  hear  spoken  of  with  great  regard  and  respect,  and  to  whom  I  myself 
give  credit  for  his  manly  openness  in  the  avowal  of  his  opinions)  I  have  felt 
the  present  animadversion  a  duty  of  justice  as  well  as  gratitude. 

S.  T.  t:.— 8  AprU,  1817. 


308  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

friend  Hemsterhuis,  as  an  organ  bearing  the  same  relation  to  spiritual  ob- 
jects, the  Universal,  the  Eternal,  and  the  Necessary,  as  the  eye  beai*s  to 
material  and  contingent   pha^nomena.     Kut  then  it  must  be  added,  that  it 
is  an  organ  identical  with  its   appropriate  objects.     Thus,  God,  the  Soul, 
eternal  Truth,  &c.  are  the   objects  of  Reason ;  but  they  are  themselves 
reason.    Wc  name  God  the  Supreme  Reason ;  and  Milton  says,  "  Whence 
the   Soul  Reason  receives,   and   Reason  is  her  Beuig."      Whatever  is 
conscious   S'eZ/'-knowledge  is  Reason  ;  and  in  this  sense  it  may  be   safely 
defined  the   organ   of  the   Supersensuous ;  even  as  the  Understanding 
Avherever  it  does  not  possess  or  use   the  Reason,  as  another  and  inward 
eye,  may  bo  defined  the  conception  of  the  Sensuous,  or  the  faculty  by 
which  we  generalize  and  arrange  the  phsenomena  of  perception  :  that  fac- 
ulty, the  functions  of  which  contain  the  rules  and  constitute  the  possibihty 
of  outward  Experience.     In  short,  the  Understanding  supposes  something 
that  is  understood.     This  may  be  merely  its  own  acts  or  forms,  that  is,  for- 
mal Logic  ;  but  real  objects,  the  materials  of  substantial  knowledge,  must 
be  furnished,  we  might  safely  say  revealed,  to  it  by  Organs  of  Sense.    The 
understanding  of  the  higher  Brutes  has  only  organs  of  outward  sense,  and 
consequently  material  objects  only ;  biU  man's  understanding  has  likewise 
an  organ  of  inward  sense,  and  therefore  the  power  of  acquaintuig  itself 
with    invisible  reahties  or  sjiiritual   objects.     This  organ   is  his   Reason. 
Again,   the  Understanding  and   Experience  may  exist*  without  Reason. 
But  Reason  cannot  exist  without  Understanding ;  nor  does  it  or  can  it  ma- 
nifest itself  but  in  and  through  the  understanding,  which  in  our  elder  wri- 
ters is  often  called  discourse,  or  the  discursive  faculty,  as  by  Hooker,  Lord 
Bacon,  and  llobbes  :  and  an  understanding  enlightened  by  reason  Shaks- 
pear  gives  as  the  contra-distinguishing  character  of  man,  under  the  name 
discourse  of  reason.     In  short,  the  human  understanding  possesses  two  dis- 
tinct organs,  the  outward  sense,  and  "the  mind's   eye"  which  is  reason: 
wherever  we  use  that  phrase  (the  mind's  eye)  in  its  proper  sense,  and  not 
as  a  mere  synonyme  of  the  memoiy  or  the  fancy.     In  this  way  we  recon- 
cile the  promise  of  Revelation,  that  the  blessed  will  see  God,  with  the  de- 
claration of  St.  John,  God  hath  no  one  seen  at  any  time. 

We  will  add  one  other  illustration  to  prevent  any  misconception,  as  if 
we  were  dividing  the  human  soul  into  different  essences,  or  ideal  persons. 
In  this  piece  of  steel  I  acknowledge  the  properties  of  hardness,  brittleness, 


*Of  this  no  one  would  feel  inclined  to  doubt,  who  had  seen  the  poodle 
dog,  whom  the  celebrated  Blumenbach,  a  name  so  dear  to  science,  as  a 
physiologist  and  Comparative  Anatomist,  and  not  less  dear  as  a  man,  to 
all  Englishmen  who  have  ever  resided  at  Gottingen  in  the  course  of  their 
education,  trained  uj),  not  only  to  hatch  the  eggs  of  the  hen  with  all  the 
mother's  care  and  i)atie]ice,  but  to  attend  the  chickens  afterwards,  and  find 
the  food  for  them.  I  have  myself  knoAvn  a  Ne^vfoundland  dog  who 
watched  and  guarded  a  family  of  young  children  with  all  the  intelhgencc 
of  a  nurse,  during  their  walks. 


NOTES.  309 

high  polish,  and  the  capabiUty  of  fonning  a  mirror.  I  find  all  these  like- 
wise in  the  plate  glass  of  a  friend's  carriage  ;  but  in  addition  to  all  these,  I 
find  the  quaUty  of  transparency,  or  the  power  of  transmitting  as  well  as  of 
reflecting  the  rays  of  Ught.    The  application  is  obvious. 

If  the  ^reader  therefore  will  take  the  trouble  of  bearing  in  mind  these 
and  the  following  explanations,  he  will  have  removed  beforehand  every 
possible  difficulty  from  the  Friend's  political  section.  For  there  is  anotlier 
use  of  the  word,  Reason,  arising  out  of  the  former  indeed,  but  less  de- 
finite, and  more  exposed  to  misconception.  In  this  latter  use  it  means  the 
understanding  considered  as  using  the  Reason,  so  far  as  by  the  organ  of 
Reason  only  we  possess  the  ideas  of  the  Necessary  and  the  Universal ; 
and  this  is  the  more  common  use  of  the  word,  when  it  is  applied  with  any 
attempt  at  clear  and  distmct  conceptions.  In  this  narrower  and  derivative 
sense  the  best  definition  of  Reason,  which  I  can  give,  will  be  found  in  the 
third  member  of  the  following  sentence,  in  which  the  miderstanding  is 
described  m  its  three-fold  operation,  and  from  each  receives  an  appropri- 
ate name.  The  Sense,  (\is  sensitiva  vel  intuitiva)  joerceives :  Vis  regula- 
trLx  (the  undei*standing,  in  its  own  peculiar  operation)  conceives:  Vis  ra- 
tionalis  (the  Reason  or  rationalized  understanding)  comprehends.  The  first 
is  impressed  through  the  organs  of  sense ;  the  second  combines  these  mul- 
tifarious impressions  into  individual  JVbtions,  and  by  reducing  these  notions 
to  Rules,  according  to  the  analogy  of  all  its  former  notices,  constitutes  Ex- 
perience ;  tlie  third  subordinates  both  these  notions  and  the  rules  of  Ex- 
perience to  ABSOLUTE  PRINCIPLES  or  neccssary  Laws  :  and  thus,  concern- 
ing objects,  which  our  experience  has  proved  to  have  real  existence,  it  de- 
monstrates, moreover,  in  what  way  they  are  possible,  and  in  doing  this  con- 
stitutes Sciejice.  Reason,  therefore,  in  this  secondaiy  sense,  and  used,  not 
as  a  spiritual  Organ  but  as  a  Faculty  (namely,  the  Understanding  or  Soul 
evVghtened  by  that  organ) — ^Reason,  I  say,  or  the  scientijic  Faculty,  is  the 
Intellection  of  the  possibility  or  essential  properties  of  things  by  means  of 
the  Laws  that  constitute  them.  Thus  tlie  rationed  idea  of  a  Circle  is  tliat 
of  a  figure  constituted  by  the  cu'cumvolution  of  a  straight  line  with  its  one 
end  fixed. 

Every  man  must  feel,  that  though  he  may  not  be  exerting  different  fac- 
ulties, he  is  exerting  his  faculties  in  a  different  way,  when  in  one  instance 
he  begins  with  some  one  self-evident  truth,  (that  the  radii  of  a  circle,  for 
instance,  are  all  equal,)  and  in  consequence  of  this  being  true  sees  at  once 
without  any  actual  experience,  that  some  other  thing  must  be  true  hkewise 
and  that,  this  being  true,  some  third  thing  must  be  equally  true,  and  so  on 
till  he  comes,  we  Avill  say,  to  the  properties  of  the  lever,  considered  as  tJie 
spoke  of  a  circle  ;  which  is  capable  of  having  all  its  marvellous  powers 
demonstrated  even  to  a  savage  who  had  never  seen  a  lever,  and  without 
supposing  any  other  previous  knowledge  in  his  mind,  but  this  one,  that 
there  is  a  conceivable  figure,  all  possible  lines  from  the  middle  to  the  cir- 
cumference of  which  are  of  the  same  length :  or  when,  m  the  second  in- 


310  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

stance,  he   brings  together  the  facts  of  experience,  each  of  which  has  its 
own  separate  value,  neither  encreased  nor  diminished  by  the  truth  of  any 
other  fact  which  may  liave  preceded  it :  and  making  these  several  facts 
bear  upon  some  particular  project,  and  finding  some  in  favour  of  it,  and 
some  against  it,  determines  for  or  against  the  project,  according  as  one  or 
the  other  class  of  facts  preponderate :  as,  for  instance,  whether  it  would 
be  better  to  plant  a  particular  spot  of  ground  with  larch,  or  with  Scotch 
fir,  or  with  03k  in  preference  to  either.     Surely  every  man  will  acknowl- 
edge, that  his  mind  was  very  differently  employed  in  the  first  case  from 
what  it  was  in  the  second  ;  and  all  men  have  agreed  to  call  the  results  of 
the  first  class  tlie  truths  of  science,  such  as  not  only  are  true,  but  which  it 
is  impossible  to  conceive  otherwise :  while  the  results  of  the  second  class 
are  called  facts,  or  things  of  experience ;  and  as   to  these  latter  we  must 
often  content  ourselves  wiih  tlie  greater  probahUity,  that  they  are  so,  or  so, 
rather  than  otherwise — nay,  even  when  we  have  no  doubt  that  they  are  so 
in  the  paiticular  case,  we  never  presume  to  assert  that  they  must  continue 
so  always,  and  under  all  circumstances.    On  the  contrary,  our  conclusions 
depend  altogether  on  contingent  circumstances.     Now  when  the  mind  is 
employed  as  in  the  case  fii-st-mentioned,  I  call  it  Reasoning,  or  the  use  of 
the  pure  Reason ;  but,  in  the  second  case,  the  Understanding  or  Prudence. 
This  Reason  applied  to  tlie  motives  of  our  conduct,  and  combined  with 
the  sense  of  our  moral  responsibility,  is  the  conditional  cause  of  Conscience, 
which  is  a  spiritual  sense  or  testifying  state  of  the  coincidence  or  discord- 
ance of  the  FREE  WILL  witli  the  Reason.     But  as  the  reasoning  consists 
wholly  in  a  man's  power  of  seeing,  whether  any  two  ideas,  which  happen 
to  be  in  his  mind,  are,  or  are  not,  in  contradiction  with  each  other,  it  fol- 
lows of  necessity,  not  only  that  all  men  have  reason,  but  that  every  man 
has  it  in  the  same  degree.     For  Reasoning  (or  Reason,  in  this  its  secondai-y 
sense)  does  not  consist  in  the  Ideas,  or  in  their  clearness,  but  simply,  when 
they  are  in  the  mind,  in  seeing  whether  they  contradict  each  other  or  no. 

And  again,  as  in  the  determinations  of  Conscience  the  only  knowledge 
required  is  that  of  my  own  intention — whether  in  doing  such  a  thing,  in- 
stead of  lea\ing  it  undone,  I  did  what  I  should  think  right  if  any  other 
person  had  done  it ;  it  follows  that  in  the  mere  question  of  guilt  or  inno- 
cence, all  men  have  not  only  Reason  equally,  but  likewise  all  the  materi- 
als on  which  the  reason,  considered  as  Conscience,  is  to  work.  But  when 
we  pass  out  of  ourselves,  and  speak,  not  exclusively  of  the  agent  as  mean- 
ing well  or  ill,  but  of  the  action  in  its  consequences,  then  of  course  expe- 
rience is  required,  judgment  in  making  use  of  it,  and  all  those  other  qual- 
ities of  the  mind  which  are  so  differently  dispensed  to  different  persons, 
both  by  nature  and  education.  And  though  the  reason  itself  is  the  same  in 
all  men,  yet  the  means  of  exercising  it,  and  the  materials  (i.  e.  the  facts 
and  Ideas)  on  which  it  is  exercised,  being  })()ssessed  in  very  different  de- 
grees by  different  persons,  the  practiced  Remdt  is,  of  course,  equally  differ- 


NOTES.  311 

ent— and  the  whole  ground  work  of  Rousseau's  Pfiilosophy  ends  in  a 
mere  Nothingism.— Even  in  that  branch  of  knowledge,  on  which  the  ideas, 
on  the  congniity  of  which  with  each  other  the  Reason  is  to  decide,  are 
all  possessed  aUke  by  all  men,  namely,  in  Geometry,  (for  all  men  in  their 
senses  possess  all  the  component  images,  viz.  simple  curves  and  straight 
lines)  yet  the  power  of  attention  required  for  the  perception  of  linked  Truths, 
even  of  5itc/i  Truths,  is  so  very  different  in  A  and  in  B,  that  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton professed  that  it  was  in  this  power  only  that  he  was  superior  to  ordi- 
nary men.  In  short,  the  sophism  is  as  gross  as  if  I  should  say— The  Soiils 
of  all  men  have  the  faculty  of  sight  in  an  equal  degree — forgetting  to  add, 
that  this  faculty  cannot  be  exercised  without  eyes,  and  that  some  men 
are  bhnd  and  others  short-sighted,  &c. — and  should  then  take  advantage 
of  this  my  omission  to  conclude  against  the  use  or  necessity  of  spectacles, 
microscopes,  &c. — or  of  choosing  the  sharpest  sighted  men  for  our  guides. 
Having  exposed  this  gi-oss  sophism,  I  must  warn  against  an  opposite  er- 
ror— namely,  that  if  Reason,  as  distinguished  from  Prudence,  consists 
merely  in  knowing  that  Black  cannot  be  White — or  when  a  man  has  a 
clear  conception  of  an  inclosed  figure,  and  another  equally  clear  concep- 
tion of  a  straight  line,  his  Reason  teaches  him  that  these  two  conceptions 
are  incompatible  in  the  same  object,  i.  e.  that  two  straight  lines  cannot  in- 
clude a  space the  said  Reason  must  be  a  veiy  insignificant  faculty. 

But  a  moment's  steady  self-reflection  will  shew  us,  that  in  the  simple  de- 
termination "  Black  is  not  White" — or,  "  that  two  straight  lines  cannot  in 
elude  a  space" — all  the  powers  are  implied,  that  distinguish  Man  fi-om  An- 
imals— first,  the  power  of  re/lection — ^2d.  of  comparison — 3d.  and  therefore 
of  suspension  of  the  mind — 4th.  therefore  of  a  controlling  will,  and  the 
power  of  acting  from  notions,  instead  of  mere  images  exciting  appetites  ; 
from  motives,  and  not  from  mere  dark  instincts.  Was  it  an  insignificant 
thing  to  weigh  the  Planets,  to  determine  all  their  courses,  and  prophecy 
every  possible  relation  of  the  Heavens  a  thousand  years  hence  ?  Yet  all 
this  mighty  chain  of  science  is  nothing  but  a  linking  together  of  truths  of 
the  same  kind,  as,  the  whole  is  gi'cater  than  its  part : — or,  if  A  and  B  =C, 
then  A  =:  B — or  3-[-4  =  7,  therefore  7-f-5  =:  12,  and  so  forth.  X  is  to 
be  found  either  in  A  or  B,  or  C  or  D  :  It  is  not  found  in  A,  B,  or  C,  there- 
fore it  is  to  be  found  in  D. — What  can  be  simpler  ?  Apply  this  to  an  an- 
imal— a  Dog  misses  his  master  where  four  roads  meet — he  has  come  up 
one,  smells  to  two  of  the  others,  and  then  with  his  head  aloft  darts  for- 
ward to  the  third  road  without  any  examination.  If  this  was  done  by  a 
conclusion,  the  Dog  would  have  Reason — how  comes  it  then,  that  he  never 
shews  it  in  his  ordinary  habits  ?  Why  does  this  story  excite  either  won- 
der or  mcredulity  ? — If  the  story  be  a  fact,  and  not  a  fiction,  I  should  say — 
the  Breeze  brought  his  Master's  scent  down  the  fourth  Road  to  the  Dog's 
nose,  and  that  therefore  he  did  not  put  it  down  to  the  Road,  as  in  the  two 
former  instances.    So  awful  and  almost  miraculous  does  the  simple  act  of 


313  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

concluding,  that  take  3  from  ,4,  there  remains  one,  appear  to  us  when  attri- 
buted to  the  most  sagacious  of  all  animals." 

The  next  extract  is  from  the  Friend,  vol.  L  pp.  187 — 188,  and  gives  in 
few  words  the  author's  view  of  the  subject  ti'eated  of  in  note  51. 

"  God  created  man  in  his  own  image.  To  be  the  image  of  his  own 
eternity  created  he  man !  Of  eternity  and  self-existence  what  other  like- 
ness is  possible  in  a  finite  being,  but  immortality  and  moral  self-determin- 
ation !  In  addition  to  sensation,  perception,  and  practical  judgment  (in- 
stinctive or  acquirable)  concerning  the  notices  furnished  by  the  organs  of 
perception,  all  which  in  kind  at  least,  the  dog  possesses  in  common  with 
his  master ;  in  addition  to  these,  God  gave  us  reason,  and  with  reason  he 
gave  us  reflective  SELr-coNSCiousNESs ;  gave  us  principles,  distinguish- 
ed from  the  maxims  and  generahzations  of  outward  experience  by  their 
absolute  and  essential  universality  and  necessity ;  and  above  all,  by  super- 
adding to  reason  the  mysterious  faculty  of  fi-ee-will  and  consequent  per- 
sonal amenability,  he  gave  us  conscience — ^tliat  law  of  conscience,  which 
in  the  power,  and  as  the  indwelling  word,  of  an  holy  and  omnipotent  le- 
gislator, commands  us — from  among  the  numerous  ideas  mathematical  and 
j)hilosoj)hical,  which  the  reason  by  the  necessity  of  its  own  excellence 
creates  for  itself — unconditionally  comwianrfs  us  to  attribute  reality,  and  actual 
existence,  to  those  ideas  and  to  those  only,  without  which  the  conscience 
itself  would  be  baseless  and  contradictoiy — to  the  ideas  of  Soul,  of  Free- 
will, of  Immortality,  and  of  God  ! 

To  God,  as  the  reality  of  the  conscience  and  the  source  of  all  obliga- 
tion ;  to  Free-will,  as  the  power  of  the  human  being  to  maintain  the  obe- 
dience, which  God  through  the  conscience  has  commanded,  against  all 
the  might  of  nature ;  and  to  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul,  as  a  state  in 
which  the  weal  and  woe  of  man  shall  be  projiortioned  to  his  moral  worth. 

With  this  faith  all  nature, 

-all  the  mighty  world 


Of  eye  and  ear- 


presents  itself  to  us,  now  as  the  aggi-egated  material  of  duty,  and  now  as  a 
vision  of  the  Most  High  revealing  to  us  the  mode,  and  time,  and  j^articu- 
lar  instance  of  applying  and  realizing  that  universal  nde,  pre-established  in 
the  heart  of  our  reason  !" 

The  following  passages  are  fi-om  the  first  Lay  Sermon,  pp.  21 — ^24,  28 — 30 
and  62— G4 : 

"The  Hebrew  legislator,  and  the  other  inspired  poets,  prophets,  histori- 
ans and  moralists  of  the  Jewish  cliurrh  have  two  immense  advantages  m 
their  favor.  First,  their  particular  iiiles  and  prescripts  flow  directly  and 
visibly  from  universal  [)rinciples,  as  from  a  fountain :  they  flow  from  prin- 
ciples and  ideas  that  are  not  so  ])rop(>ily  said  to  be  confirmed  by  rcjison  as 
to  be  reason  itself!  Principles,  in  act  and  procession,  disjoined  from  which. 


NOTES.  313 

and  fi-om  the  emotions  that  inevitably  accompany  the  actual  intuition  of 
their  truth,  tlie  widest  maxhns  of  prudence  are  hke  arms  without  hearts, 
muscles  without  nerves.  Secondly,  from  the  very  nature  of  these  princi- 
ples, as  taught  in  the  Bible,  they  are  understood  in  exact  proportion  as  tliey 
are  beheved  and  felt.  The  regidator  is  never  separated  from  the  main 
spring.  For  the  words  of  the  apostle  are  literally  and  philosophically  true : 
We  (that  is,  the  human  race)  live  by  faith.  Whatever  we  do  or  know, 
that  in  kind  is  different  from  the  brute  creation,  has  its  origin  in  a  deter- 
mination of  the  reason  to  have  faith  and  trust  in  itself.  This,  its  fii-st  act 
of  faith,  is  scarcely  less  than  identical  with  its  own  being.  Implicit^,  it  is 
the  Copula — it  contams  tlie  possibility — of  every  position,  to  which  there 
exists  any  con-espondence  in  reality.  It  is  itself,  tlierefore,  the  realizhig 
prmciple,  the  spiiitual  substratum  of  the  whole  complex  body  of  truths. 
This  primal  act  of  faith  is  enunciated  in  the  word,  God  ;  a  faith  not  de- 
rived from  experience,  but  its  ground  and  source,  and  without  which  the 
fleeting  chaos  of  facts  would  no  more  form  experience,  than  the  dust  of 
the  grave  can  of  itself  make  a  Uving  man.  The  imperative  and  oracular 
fonn  of  the  inspired  Scripture,  is  the  form  of  reason  itself  in  all  things 
purely  rational  and  moral. 

If  it  be  the  word  of  Divine  Wisdom^  we  might  anticipate  that  it  would 
in  all  things  be  distinguished  from  other  books,  as  the  supreme  Reason, 
whose  knowledge  is  creative,  and  antecedent  to  the  things  known,  is  dis- 
tinguished from  the  understanding,  or  creaturely  mind  of  the  individual, 
the  acts  of  wliich  are  posterior  to  the  things,  it  records  and  aiTanges.  Man 
alone  was  created  m  the  image  of  God :  a  position  gi'oundless  and  inexpli- 
cable, if  the  reason  in  man  do  not  differ  from  the  understanding.  For  this 
tlie  inferior  animals,  (many  at  least)  possess  in  degree  :  and  assuredly  the 
divme  image  or  idea  is  not  a  tiling  of  degrees. 

Hence  it  follows  that  what  is  expressed  in  the  inspired  writings,  is  implied 
in  all  absolute  science.  The  latter  whispers  what  the  fomier  utter  as  with 
the  voice  of  a  trumpet.  As  sure  as  God  liveth,  is  the  pledge  and  as- 
surance of  every  positive  truth,  that  is  asserted  by  the  reason.  The  hu 
man  understanding  musing  on  many  things,  snatches  at  truth,  but  is  frus- 
trated and  disheartened  by  the  fluctuating  nature  of  its  objects  ;  its  con- 
clusions therefore  are  timid  and  uncertain,  and  it  hath  no  way  of  giving 
permanence  to  things  but  by  reducing  tliem  to  abstractions :  hai'dly  (saith 
the  author  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  of  whose  words  the  preceding 
sentence  is  a  paraphrase)  hardly  do  we  guess  aright  at  things  that  are  upon 
earth,  and  with  labour  do  we  find  the  things  that  are  before  us ;  but  all 
certain  knowledge  is  in  the  power  of  God,  and  a  presence  from  above. 
So  only  have  the  ways  of  men  been  reformed ;  and  every  doctrine  that  con- 
tains a  saving  truth,  and  all  acts  pleasing  to  God  (in  other  words,  all  actions 
consonant  with  human  nature,  in  its  original  intention)  are  through  wis- 
dom :  that  is,  the  rationed  spirit  of  man. 

40 


314  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

This  tlien  is  the  prerogative  of  the  Bible ;  this  is  the  privilege  of  its  be- 
lieving students.  With  them  the  principle  of  know^ledge  is  likewise  a 
spring  and  principle  of  action.  And  as  it  is  the  only  certain  knov^^ledge,  so 
are  the  actions  that  flow  with  it  the  only  ones  on  which  a  secure  reliance 
can  be  placed.  The  understanding  may  suggest  motives,  may  avail  itself 
of  motives,  and  make  judicious  conjectures  respecting  the  probable  con- 
sequences of  actions.  But  the  knowledge  taught  in  the  Scriptures  produ- 
ces the  motives,  involves  the  consequences ;  and  its  highest  formula  is  still : 
As  SURE  AS  God  liveth,  so  will  it  be  unto  thee ! 

In  the  genuine  enthusiasm  of  morals,  religion,  and  patriotism,  the  en- 
largement and  elevation  of  the  soul  above  its  mere  self  attest  the  presence, 
and  accompany  the  intuition,  of  ultimate  principles  alone.  These  alone 
can  interest  the  undegraded  human  spirit  deeply  and  enduringly,  because 
these  alone  belong  to  its  essence,  and  will  remain  with  it  permanently. 

Notions,  the  depthless  abstractions  of  fleeting  phaenomena,  the  shadows 
of  saihng  vapors,  the  colorless  repetitions  of  rain-bows,  have  effected  their 
utmost  when  they  have  added  to  the  distinctness  of  our  knowledge.  For 
this  veiy  cause  they  are  of  themselves  adverse  to  lofty  emotion,  and  it  re- 
quires the  influence  of  a  light  and  warmth,  not  their  own,  to  make  them 
chrystallize  into  a  semblance  of  growth.  But  every  principle  is  actuaMzed 
by  an  idea ;  and  every  idea  is  living,  productive,  partaketh  of  infinity,  and 
(as  Bacon  has  sublimely  obseiTed)  containeth  an  endless  power  of  semina- 
tion. Hence  it  is,  that  science,  which  consists  wholly  in  ideas  and  princi- 
ples, is  power.  Scientia  et  potentia  (saith  the  same  philosopher)  in  idem 
coincident.  Hence  too  it  is,  that  notions,  linked  arguments,  reference  to 
particular  facts,  and  calculations  of  prudence,  influence  only  the  compara- 
tively few,  the  men  of  leisurely  minds  who  have  been  trained  up  to  them : 
and  even  these  few  they  influence  but  faintly.  But  for  the  reverse,  I  appeal 
to  the  general  character  of  the  doctrines  which  have  collected  the  most  nu- 
merous sects,  and  acted  upon  the  moral  being  of  the  converts  with  a  force 
that  might  well  seem  supernatural  I  The  great  principles  of  our  religion, 
the  subbmO'  ideas  spoken  out  everywhere  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
resemble  the  fixed  stars,  which  appear  of  the  same  size  to  the  naked  as  to 
the  armed  eye  ;  the  magnitude  of  which  the  telescope  may  rather  seem  to 
diminish  than  to  increase.  At  the  annunciation  of  principles,  of  ideas,  the 
soul  of  man  awakes,  and  starts  up,  as  an  exile  in  a  far  distant  land  at  the 
unexpected  sounds  of  his  native  language,  when  afl;er  long  years  of  ab- 
sence, and  almost  of  oblivion,  he  is  suddenly  addressed  in  his  own  mo- 
ther-tongue. He  weeps  for  joy,  and  embraces  the  speaker  as  his  brother. 
How  else  can  we  explain  the  fact  so  honorable  to  Great  Britain,  that  the 
poorest*^  amongst  us  will  contend  with  as  much  enthusiasm  as  the  richest 

*  The  reader  will  remember  the  anecdote  told  with  so  much  humour  in 
Goldsmith's  Essay.  But  this  is  not  the  first  instance  where  the  mind  in  its 
hour  of  meditation  finds  matter  of  admiration  and  elevating  thought,  in 
circumstances  that  in  a  different  mood  had  excited  its  mirth. 


NOTES.  315 

for  the  rights  of  property  ?  These  rights  are  tlie  spheres  and  necessary 
conditions  of  free  agency.  But  fiee  agewcy  contams  the  idea  of  the  freo 
will ;  and  in  tliis  he  intuitively  knows  the  sublimity,  and  the  injfinite  hopes, 
fears,  and  capabilities  of  his  own  nature.  On  what  other  ground  but  tlio 
cognateness  of  ideas  and  principles  to  man  as  man,  does  the  nameless  sol- 
dier rush  to  the  combat  in  defence  of  the  hberties  or  the  honor  of  his 
coimlry  ? — Even  men  wofully  neglectful  of  the  precepts  of  rehgjon  will 
shed  their  blood  for  its  truth. 

All  other  sciences  are  confined  to  abstractions,  unless  when  the  term  Sci- 
ence is  used  in  an  improper  and  flattering  sense — Thus  we  may  speak 
without  boast  of  Natural  History  ;  but  we  have  not  yet  attauied  to  a 
Science  of  Nature.  The  Bible  alone  contains  a  Science  of  Reality :  and 
therefore  each  of  it's  Elements  is  at  the  same  time  a  living  Germ,  in  which 
the  Present  involves  the  Future,  and  in  the  Finite  the  Infinite  exists  po- 
tentially. That  hidden  mystery  in  every,  the  minutest,  form  of  existence, 
which  contemplated  under  the  relations  of  time  presents  itself  to  the  un- 
derstanding retiospectively,  as  an  infinite  ascent  of  Causes,  and  prospect- 
ively as  an  interminable  progression  of  Effects — that  which  contemplated 
in  Space  is  beheld  intuitively  as  a  law  of  action  and  re-action,  continuous 
and  extending  beyond  all  bound — this  same  mystery  fi-eed  from  tlie  phe- 
nomena of  Time  and  Space,  and  seen  in  the  depth  of  real  Being,  reveals 
itself  to  the  pure  Reason  as  the  actual  immanence  of  All  in  Each.  Are 
we  struck  with  admiration  at  beholding  the  Cope  of  Heaven  imaged 
in  a  Dew-drop?  The  least  of  the  animalcula  to  which  that  drop  would 
be  an  Ocean  contains  in  itself  an  infinite  problem  of  which  God  Omni- 
present is  the  only  solution.  The  slave  of  custom  is  roused  by  the  Rare 
and  Accidental  alone  ;  but  the  axioms  of  the  unthinking  are  to  the  plulo- 
sopher  the  deepest  problems,  as  being  the  nearest  to  the  mysterious  Root, 
and  partaking  at  once  of  its  darkness  and  it's  pregnancy. 

O  what  a  mine  of  undiscovered  treasures,  what  a  new  world  of  Power 
and  truth  would  the  Bible  promise  to  om*  future  meditation,  if  in  some  gra- 
cious moment  one  solitary  text  of  all  its  inspired  contents  should  but  dawn 
upon  us  in  the  pure  untroubled  brightness  of  an  Idea,  that  most  glorious 
birth  of  the  God-like  within  us,  which  even  as  the  Light,  its  material  sym- 
bol, reflects  itself  from  a  thousand  surfaces,  and  flies  homeward  to  its  Pa- 
rent mind  enriched  with  a  thousand  fonns,  itself  above  form  and  still  r^ 
maining  in  its  own  simpUcity  and  identity !  O  for  a  flash  of  that  same 
Light,  in  which  the  first  position  of  geometric  science  that  ever  loosed  it- 
self from  the  generahzations  of  a  groping  and  insecure  experience,  did  for 
the  first  time  reveal  itself  to  a  human  intellect  in  all  its  evidence  and  all 
its  fiidtfiilness,  Transparence  without  Vacuum,  and  Plenitude  without  Opa- 
city !  O  that  a  single  gleam  of  our  own  mward  exi)erience  \\'ould  make 
comprehensible  to  us  the  rapturous  Eureka,  and  the  gratefid  Hecatomb, 
of  the  philosopher  of  Sainos !  or  that  Vision  which  fi*onr  the  contempla- 


3i6  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

tion  of  an  arithmetical  harmony  rose  to  the  eye  of  Kepler,  presenting  tlie 
l)lanetary  world,  and  all  their  orbits  in  the  divine  order  of  their  ranks  and 
distances :  or  which,  in  the  falling  of  an  Apple,  revealed  to  the  ethereal  in- 
tuition of  our  own  Newton  the  constructive  principle  of  the  material  Uni- 
verse." 

The  definitions,  which  follow,  exhibit  the  distinctions  aimed  at  by  the 
author  in  few  words. 

"  Under  the  term  Sense,  I  comprise  whatever  is  passive  in  our  bemg, 
without  any  reference  to  the  questions  of  MateriaUsm  or  Immaterialism ; 
all  that  man  is  in  common  with  animals,  in  kind  at  least — his  sensations, 
and  impressions,  whether  of  his  outward  senses,  or  the  inner  sense  of  ima- 
gination. This,  in  the  language  of  the  Schools,  was  called  the  vis  recep- 
tiva,  or  recipient  property  of  the  soul,  from  the  original  constitution  of  which 
we  perceive  and  imagine  all  things  under  the  forms  of  space  and  time. 
By  the  understanding,  I  mean  the  faculty  of  tliinking  and  fonmng  jiidg- 
ments  on  the  notices  furnished  by  the  sense,  according  to  certain  rules  ex- 
isting in  itself,  which  rules  constitute  its  distinct  nature.  By  the  pure  Rea- 
son, I  mean  the  power  by  which  we  become  possessed  of  principle,  (the 
eternal  verities  of  Plato  and  Descartes)  and  of  ideas,  (N.  B.  not  images)  as 
the  ideas  of  a  point,  a  line,  a  circle,  in  Mathematics ;  and  of  Justice,  Ho- 
liness, Free-AVill,  &c.  in  morals.  Hence  in  works  of  pure  science  the  de- 
finitions of  necessity  precede  the  reasoning,  in  other  works  they  more  apt- 
ly form  the  conclusion." — The  Friend  vol.  1,  pp.  305 — 306,  Note. 

As  the  Philosophical  works  of  Heniy  More,  from  whose  Theological 
works  extracts  are  inserted  in  the  text,  pp.  97,  99,  and  who  was  referred  to 
in  note  43,  are  seldom  to  be  found  in  this  countiy,  I  have  selected  a  few 
passages  from  them  having  more  particular  reference  to  the  subject  of  this 
note.    The  references  are  to  a  London  folio  edition  of  1712. 

"  To  take  away  Reason  under  what  fanatic  pretence  soever  is  to  disrobe 
the  Priest  and  desj)oil  him  of  his  breast-plate  and  which  is  worst  of  all  to 
rob  Christianity  of  that  special  prerogative  it  has  above  all  other  religions 
in  the  world,  namely,  that  it  dares  appeal  unto  reason^ — Preface,  p.  6. 

"  I  should  commend  to  them,  that  would  successfully  philosophise,  the 
belief  and  endeavour  after  a  certain  principle  more  noble  and  inward  than 
reason  itself,  and  Avithout  which  reason  will  faulter,  or  at  least  reacli  but 
to  mean  and  frivolous  things.  I  have  a  sense  of  something  in  me,  while 
I  thus  speak,  which  I  must  confess  is  of  so  retruse  a  nature,  that  I  want  a 
name  for  it  imless  I  should  adventure  to  term  it  Divine  Sagacity,  which  is 
the  first  rise  of  a  successfiil  reason."  And  this,  he  afterwards  observes,  is 
the  sentiment  of  Aristotle,  that  there  is  something  before  and  better  than  Rea- 
son, whence  Reason  itself  has  its  lise.  The  success  of  the  mind  therefore 
in  its  speculation  after  truth  "  is  from  the  presence  of  God,  who  docs  in- 
deed move  all  things,  in  some  sort  or  odier,  but  residing  hi  the  most  unde- 


NOTES.  317 

filed  sjiirit,  moves  it  in  the  most  excellent  manner,  and  endues  it  with  that 
Divine  Sagacity  I  spoke  of,  which  is  a  more  inward,  compendious  and 
comprehensive  presentation  of  truth,  ever  antecedaneous  to  that  reason, 
which  m  theories  of  greatest  importance  approves  itself  afterwards  upon 
the  exactest  examination  to  he  most  solid  and  perfect  every  w^ay,  and  ti*u- 
ly  that  wisdom,  which  ispecuharly  styled  the  gift  of  God,  and  hardly  com- 
petible  to  any  but  to  persons  of  a  pure  and  unspotted  mind.  Of  so  great 
concernment  is  it  sincerely  to  endeavour  to  be  holy  and  good." — p.  7  &.  9. 

I  have  been  strongly  tempted  to  insert,  here,  another  Essay  from  the 
Friend,  the  9th  of  vol.  3,  as  exhibiting  more  distinctly  the  autlior's  riews 
of  the  relation  of  reason,  as  the  power  of  spiritual  intuition  in  man,  to  the 
Supreme  Reason,  and  showing  their  resemblance  to  those  of  H.  More.  It 
would  however  swell  the  size  of  this  volume  too  much,  and  those  who 
would  be  desirous  of  reading  it,  will  be  deshousalso  of  readmg  the  whole 
of  that  most  valuable  work.  The  reader  I  believe  Avill  find  a  key  to  the 
subject,  which  I  wished  to  explain,  by  referring  to  this  volume,  p.  3,  to  the 
extracts  from  the.  1st  Lay  Sermon  above  and  note  [C]  in  the  Appendix. 
See  also  note  65. 

The  following  fi-om  More  illustrates  the  distinction  between  reason  and 
the  miderstanding,  and  the  limitations  of  the  latter  in  regai-d  to  tlie  truths 
of  reason. 

"  If  the  difficulty  of  framing  a  conception  of  a  thing  must  take  away  the 
existence  of  the  thing  itself,  there  will  be  no  such  thing  as  a  body  left  in 
the  world,  and  then  will  all  be  spirit  or  nothing.  For  who  can  frame  so 
safe  a  notion  of  a  hodyy  as  to  free  himself  from  the  entanglements,  that  the 
extension  thereof  will  bring  along  \Aith  it?  For  this  extended  matter  consists 
of  either  indiyisible  i)oints,  or  of  particles  divisible  in  infinitum.  Take 
which  of  tb^se  you  will  (and  you  can  find  no  third)  you  Avill  be  wound 
into  the  most  notorious  absurdities  that  may  be.  For  if  you  say  it  consists 
of  points,  from  this  position  I  can  necessarily  demonstrate,  that  every 
spear  or  spire-steeple,  or  what  long  body  you  will,  is  as  thick  as  it  is  long, 
that  the  tallest  cedar  is  not  so  high  as  the  lowest  mushroon,  and  that  the 
moon  and  the  earth  are  so  near  each  other,  that  the  thickness  of  your  liand 
will  not  go  betwLxt,  that  rounds  and  squares  are  all  one  figure,  that  even 
and  odd  nmiibers  are  equal  with  one  another,  and  that  the  clearest  day  is 
as  dark  as  the  blackest  night.  And  if  you  make  choice  of  the  other  mem- 
ber of  the  disjunction,  your  fancy  will  be  but  little  better  at  ease  ;  for  no- 
thing can  be  divisible  into  parts  it  has  not.  Therefore  if  a  body  be  divisi- 
ble uito  infinite  parts,  it  has  infinite  extended  parts.  And  if  it  has  an  in- 
finite number  of  extended  parts,  it  cannot  but  be  a  hard  mysteiy  to  the 
imagination  of  man,  that  infinite  extended  parts  should  not  amount  to  one 
whole  infinite  cxteiisioii.  And  thus  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  would  be  as 
well  infinitely  extended  as  the  whole  matter  of  the  universe,  and  a  thou- 
sandth part  of  that  gi-ain  as  the  grain  itself    Which  things  are  more  un- 


318  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

conceivable,  than  any  thing  in  the  notion  of  a  spirit.  Therefore  we  are 
not  scornfully  and  contemptuously  to  reject  any  notion  for  seeming  at  first 
to  be  clouded  and  obscured  with  some  difficulties  and  intricacies  of  con- 
ception."— Antidote  against  Atheism,  p.  14. 

What  follows,  making  some  allowance  for  particular  expressions,  will  be 
seen  to  coincide  with  the  views  of  Coleridge,  and  wUl  be  thought  by  many, 
at  least,  to  be  a  sufficient  explanation  and  defence  of  the  doctrine  of  mnate 
ideas. 

"  It  will  not  be  amiss  here  briefly  to  touch  upon  that  notable  point  in 
philosophy,  whether  the  soui  of  man  he  ahrasa  tabula,  a  table-hook  icherein  no- 
thing is  ivjit,  or  whether  she  have  some  innate  notions  and  ideas  in  herself. 
For  so  it  is,  that  she  having  taken  first  occasion  of  thinking  from  external 
objects,  it  hath  so  imposed  upon  some  men's  judgments,  that  they  have 
conceited  that  the  soul  has  no  knowledge  nor  notion,  but  what  is  in  a  passive 
way  impressed  or  delineated  upon  her  from  the  objects  of  sense ;  they  not 
warily  enough  distinguishing  betwixt  extrinsical  occasions  and  adequate  or 
principal  causes  of  things. 

But  the  mind  of  man  more  free  and  better  exercised  in  tlie  close  obser- 
vation of  its  own  operations  and  nature,  cannot  but  discover  that  there  is 
an  active  and  actual  knowledge  in  a  man,  of  which  these  outward  objects 
are  rather  the  reminders,  tlian  the  first  begetters  or  implanters.  And  when 
I  say  actual  hmidedge,  I  do  not  mean  there  is  a  certain  number  of  ideas 
flaring  and  shining  to  the  animadversive  facidty,  like  so  many  torches  or  stars  > 
in  the  firmament  to  outward  sight,  that  tliere  are  any  figures,  that  take  their 
distinct  places,  and  are  legibly  writ  there  like  the  red  letters  or  astronomical 
characters  in  an  almanack :  But  I  understood  thereby  an  activ«  sagacity  in 
the  soul,  or  quick  recollection,  as  it  were,  w^hereby  some  small  business 
being  hinted  upon  her,  she  runs  out  presently  into  a  more  clear  or  larger 
concejition. 

And  I  cannot  better  describe  her  condition  than  thus  :  Suppose  a  skil- 
ful musician  fallen  asleep  in  the  field  upon  the  grass,  during  which  time 
he  shall  not  so  much  as  dream  any  thing  concerning  his  musical  faculty, 
so  that  in  one  sense  there  is  no  actual  skill  or  notion  nor  representation  of 
any  thing  musical  in  him  ;  but  his  friend  sitting  by  him  that  cannot  sing  at 
all  himself,  jogs  him  and  awakes  him  and  desires  him  %o  sing  this  or  tlie 
other  song,  telHng  him  two  or  three  words  of  the  beginning  of  the  song, 
whereupon  he  presently  takes  it  out  of  his  mouth,  and  sings  the  whole 
song  upon  so  slight  and  slender  intimation.  So  the  mind  of  man  being 
jogged  and  awakened  by  the  impulses  of  outward  objects,  is  stirred  up 
into  a  more  full  and  clear  conception  of  what  was  but  imperfectly  hinted 
to  her  from  external  occasions ;  and  this  faculty  I  venture  to  call  actual 
knowledge,  in  such  a  sense  as  the  sleeping  musician's  skill  might  be  called 
actual  skill  when  he  thought  nothing  of  it. 
And  that  this  is  the  condition  of  the  soul  is  discoverable  by  suncby  ob- 


NOTES.  310 

servations.  As  for  example,  exhibit  to  the  soul  through  the  outward  sen- 
ses the  figure  of  a  circle ;  she  acknowledgeth  presently  this  to  be  one  kind 
offgure^  and  can  add  forthwith,  that  if  it  be  perfect,  all  the  lines,  from 
some  one  point  of  it  drawn  to  the  perimeter,  must  be  exactly  equal.  In 
like  manner  shew  her  a  triangle ;  she  will  straightway  pronounce,  that  if 
that  be  the  right  figure  it  makes  toward,  tlie  angles  must  be  closed  in  indi- 
visible points.  But  this  accuracy  either  in  the  circle  or  the  triangle  cannot 
be  set  out  m  any  material  subject:  therefore  it  remains  that  she  hatha 
more  full  and  exquisite  knowledge  of  things  in  herself  than  tlie  matter 
can  lay  open  before  her. 

Let  U8  cast  in  a  third  instance :  let  somebody  now  demonstrate  this 
tnangle  described  in  the  matter  to  have  its  three  angles  equal  to  two  right 
ones  ;  why  yes,  saith  the  soul,  this  is  true,  and  not  only  in  tliis  particular 
triangle,  but  in  all  plain  tiiangles  that  can  possibly  be  described  in  the  mat- 
ter. And  thus,  you  see,  the  soul  sings  out  the  whole  song  upon  the  first 
hint,  as  knowing  it  very  well  before. 

Besides  this,  there  are  a  number  of  relative  notions  or  ideas  in  the  mind 
of  man,  as  well  Mathematicnl  as  Logical,  which  if  we  prove  cannot  be  the 
impresses  of  any  material  object  from  without,  it  will  necessarily  follow 
that  tliey  are  from  the  soul  herself  within,  and  are  the  natural  furniture  of 
humane  understanding.  Such  are  these,  cause,  effect,  whole  and  paii,  like 
and  unlike.  So  equality  and  inequality,  ^oyog  and  aruXoyia^  proportion  and 
analogy,  symmetry  and  asymmetry,  and  such  like  :  all  which  relative  ideas  I 
shall  easily  prove  to  be  no  material  impresses  fi-om  without  upon  the  soul, 
but  her  own  active  conception  proceeding  from  herself  whilst  she  takes 
notice  of  external  objects.  For  that  these  ideas  can  make  no  impresses  up- 
on the  outward  senses  is  plain  from  hence,  because  they  are  no  sensible 
nor  physical  affections  of  the  matter.  And  how  can  that  that  is  no  physical 
affection  of  the  matter,  affect  our  corporeal  organs  of  sense  ? 

But  now  that  these  relative  ideas,  whether  Logical  or  Mathematical,  be  no 
physical  affections  of  the  matter,  is  manifest  fi-om  these  two  arguments. 
First,  they  may  be  produced  when  there  has  been  no  physiccd  motion  nor 
'  alteration  in  the  subject  to  which  they  belong,  nay,  indeed,  when  there 
hath  been  nothing  at  all  done  to  the  subject  to  which  they  do  accrue.  As 
for  example,  suppose  one  side  of  a  room  whitened,  the  other  not  touched 
or  meddled  with,  this  other  has  thus  become  unlike,  and  hath  the  notion 
of  dissimUe  necessarily  belonging  to  it,  although  there  has  nothing  at  all 
been  done  thereunto.  So  suppose  two  pounds  of  lead,  which  therefore 
are  two  equal  pieces  of  that  Metal,  cut  away  half  from  one  of  them,  the 
other  pound  nothing  at  all  being  done  unto  it  has  lost  its  Notion  of  equal, 
and  hath  acquired  a  new  one  of  double  unto  the  other.  Nor  is  it  to  any 
pui-pose  to  answer,  that  though  there  Avas  nothing  done  to  this  pound  of 
lead,  yet  there  was  to  the  other ;  for  that  does  not  at  all  eneiTate  the  Rea- 
son, but  shews  that  the  notion  of  sub-double,  which  accrued  to  that  lead 
which  had  half  cut  away,  is  but  our  mode  of  conceiving,  as  well  as  the 


320  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

Other,  and  not  any  physical  ajedion  that  strikes  the  corporeal  organs  of  the 
body,  as  hot  and  cold,  Imrd  and  soft,  ivkite  and  black,  and  the  like  do.  Where- 
fore the  ideas  of  equal  and  umqual,  double  and  sub-double,  like  and  unlike, 
Avith  the  rest  are  no  external  impresses  upon  the  senses,  but  the  soul's  own 
active  manner  of  conceiving  those  things  which  ai'e  discovered  by  the 
outward  senses. 

The  second  argument  is,  that  one  and  the  same  part  of  the  matter  is 
capable,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  wholly  and  entirely,  of  two  contrary 
ideas  of  this  kind.  As  for  example,  any  piece  of  matter  that  is  a  middle 
proportional  betwixt  two  other  pieces  is  double,  suppose,  and  svh-douhle,  or 
triple  and  sub-triple,  at  once.  Which  is  a  manifest  sign  that  these  ideas 
are  no  affections  of  the  matter,  and  therefore  do  not  affect  our  senses ;  else 
they  would  aft'ect  the  senses  of  beasts,  and  they  might  also  grow  good  Ge- 
ometricians and  Arithmeticians.  And  they  not  affecting  our  senses,  it  is 
plain  that  we  have  some  ideas  that  we  are  not  beholding  to  our  senses  for, 
]>ut  are  the  mere  exertions  of  the  mind,  occasionally  awakened  by  the 
api)ulses  of  the  outward  objects ;  which  the  outward  senses  do  no  more 
teach  us,  than  he  that  awakened  the  musician  to  sing,  taught  him  his  skill." 

Antidote  against  Atheism,  p.  17 — 19. 

In  the  next  chapters  he  proceeds  to  show,  that  the  idea  of  God  has  its 
origin  in  the  soul  of  man  in  the  same  manner  as  the  ideas  mentioned  in 
the  above  extract.  Like  them  it  resides  there  inseparably  and  immutably, 
and  the  fiict  of  its  being  obscurely  or  imperfectly  developed  in  some  minds, 
or  in  whole  nations,  no  more  proves  that  it  is  not  there,  as  a  necessary 
part  or  product  of  the  universal  reason  of  man,  in  the  sense  above  ex- 
plained, than  a  similar  imperfect  developement  of  geometrical  truths  au- 
thorises a  like  inference  in  regard  to  them.  In  regard  to  the  objective  ex- 
istence of  God,  he  agrees  with  Des  Cartes  in  considering  necessaiy  exis- 
tence a  part  of  the  rational  idea,  an  answer  to  which  may  be  found  in  the 
second  letter  of  "  Selections  from  the  Con-espondence  of  Mr.  Coleridge,"  at 
the  end  of  this  volume.  His  other  proofs  of  it,  however,  are  solid  and 
rational,  but  not  particularly  to  my  purpose  here. 

The  following  is  inserted  fi'om  his  "Discourse  of  Enthusiasm"  for  its 
coincidence  in  thought  and  language  with  the  views  of  Coleridge. 

"Assuredly  that  spirit  of  illumination,  which  resides  in  the  souls  of  the 
faitliful,  is  a  principle  of  the  purest  reason  that  is  communicable  to  the  hu- 
man natin-e.  And  what  this  spirit  has,  he  has  from  Christ,  (as  Christ  him- 
self witnesseth)  who  is  the  eternal  Xoyoc,  the  all-comprehending  wisdom 
and  reason  of  God,  wherein  he  sees  through  tlie  natures  and  ideals  of  all 
things,  with  all  their  respects  of  dependency  and  inde})endency,  congruity 
and  incongruity,  or  wliatever  habitude  they  have  one  to  another,  with  one 
continued  glance  at  once." — p.  39. 

These  extracts  from  a  writer  of  such  cminonce,  as  TIenry  More,  will  do 
something,  I  trust,  if  cither  acknowledged  autliority  or  rational  argument 


NOTES. 


331 


ran  do  any  thing,  to  counteract  some  of  the  ju-ejudices  against  the  author 
of  this  work  and  the  language  wliich  he  employs.  They  will  show,  that 
neither  his  language  nor  his  philosophy  are  wholly  unauthorised  even 
among  English  writers  of  great  reputation,  and  indeed  only  time  and  space 
would  be  wanting  to  nmltiply  extracts  having  the  same  tendency  from 
many  other  great  writers  of  acknowledged  authority  among  the  older  En- 
glish philosophers  and  divines.  If  such  then  be  the  fact,  if  tlie  })hiloso- 
phical  views  exhibited  in  this  work  are  found  essentially  to  coincide  with 
those  of  Plato  and  Lord  Bacon,  and  of  many  others  of  the  most  distin- 
guished philosophers  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  may  we  not  venture, 
at  least  without  incurring  the  charge  of  aiTOgance  and  youthful  presump- 
tion, to  indulge  a  suspicion,  that  "there  are  more  things  in  heaven  and 
earth,  than  are  dreamed  of"  in  the  sensuous  and  empirical  philosophy  of 
the  day.  Though  all  the  world  may  now  be  going  in  one  direction,  self- 
confident  and  self-satisfied,  it  can  do  no  liami,  at  most  to  any  but  them- 
selves, if  some  few  should  pause,  and  hesitate,  and  look  about  them,  or 
even  refuse  to  advance  farther,  till  they  have  examined  the  records  of  their 
progress,  and  ascertained  their  position  and  coui*se  by  tlie  great  landmarks 
of  immutable  truth  and  reason. — Am.  Ed.] 

[60]  p.  148. 

The  Philosopher,  whom  the  Inquisition  would  have  burnt  alive  as  an 
Atheist,  had  not  Leo  X.  and  Cardinal  Bembo  decided  that  the  Work 
might  be  foniiidable  to  those  semi-pagan  Christians  who  regarded  Rev- 
elation as  a  mere  Make-weight  to  their  boasted  Religion  of  Nature  ;  but 
contained  nothmg  dangerous  to  the  Catholic  Church  or  offensive  to  a  tme 
Believer. 

[61]  p.  150. 

The  word.  Instinct,  brings  together  a  number  of  facts  into  one  class  by 
the  assertion  of  a  conmion  ground,  the  nature  of  wliich  gi'ound  it  de- 
termmes  negatively  only  — i.  e.  the  word  docs  not  explain  ivhat  this  com- 
mon ground  is ;  but  eimi)ly  indicates,  that  there  is  such  a  ground,  and 
that  it  is  different  in  kind  fi'om  that  in  which  the  responsible  and  con- 
sciously voluntaiy  Actions  of  Men  originate.  Thus,  in  its  true  and  pri- 
mary import,  Instinct  stands  in  antithesis  to  Reason ;  and  the  peiplexi- 
ty  and  contradictory  statements  into  which  so  many  meritorious  Natural- 
ists, and  popular  Writers  on  Natural  Histoiy  (Priscilla  Wakefield,  Kirby, 
Sl)ence,  Huber,  and  even  Reimarus)  have  fallen  on  this  subject,  arise 
wholly  from  their  taking  the  word  in  opposition  to  Understanding.  I 
notice  this,  because  I  would  not  lose  any  opportunity  of  impressing  on 
the  minds  of  my  youthfiil  readers  the  important  truth,  that  Language  (as 
the  embodied  and  articulated  Spirit  of  the  Race,  as  the  gro\Mh  and  ema- 
nation of  a  People,  and  not  the  work  of  any  individual  Wit  or  Will)  is  of- 

41 


322  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ten  inadequate,  sometimes  deficient,  but  never  false  or  delusive.  We 
have  only  to  master  the  true  origin  and  original  import  of  any  native  and 
abiding  word,  to  find  in  it,  if  not  the  solution  of  the  facts  expressed  by  it, 
yet  a  finger-mark  pointing  to  the  road  on  w^hich  this  solution  is  to  be  sought 
for, 

[62]  p.  150. 
Neque  quicquam  adubito,  quin  ea  candidis  omnibus  faciat  satis.  Quid 
autem  facias  istis  qui  vel  ob  ingenii  pertinaciam  sibi  satisfieri  nolint,  vel 
stupidiores  sint  quam  ut  satisfactionem  intelligant  ?  Nam  quemadmo- 
dum  Simonides  dixit,  Thessalos  hebetiores  quam  ut  possint  a  se  de- 
cipi,  ita  quosdam  videas  stupidiores  quam  ut  placari  queant.  Adhuc  non 
mirum  est  invenire  quod  calumnietur  qui  nihil  aliud  quaerit  nisi  quod 
calumnietur.  {Erasmi  EpisL  ad  Dorpium.)  At  all  events,  the  follow- 
ing Exposition  has  been  recieved  at  second  hand,  and  passing  through 
the  medium  of  my  own  prei)ossessions,  if  any  fault  be  found  with  it,  the 
fault  probably,  and  the  blame  certainly,  belongs  to  the  Reporter. 

[63]  p.  150. 
And  which  (I  might  have  added)  in  a  more  enlightened  age,  and  in  a 
Protestant  Country,  impelled  more  than  one  German  University  to  an- 
athematize Fr.  Hoffman's  discovery  of  Carbonic  Acid  Gas,  and  of  its 
effects  on  animal  hfe,  as  hostile  to  religion,  and  tending  to  Atheism ! 
Three  or  four  Students  at  the  university  of  Jena,  in  the  attempt  to  raise  a 
Spirit  for  the  discovery  of  a  supposed  hidden  treasure,  were  strangled  or 
poisoned  by  the  fumes  of  the  Charcoal  they  had  been  burning  in  a  close 
Garden-house  of  a  vineyard  near  Jena  while  employed  in  their  magic  fu- 
migations and  channs.  One  only  was  restored  to  Life :  and  from  his  ac- 
count of  the  Noises  and  Spectres  {in  his  ears  and  eyes)  as  he  was  losing  his 
senses,  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  bad  Spirit  had  destroyed  them. 
Frederic  Hoffman  admitted  that  it  was  a  very  had  spirit  that  had  tempted 
tliem,  the  Spirit  of  Avarice  and  folly;  and  that  a  very  noxious  Spirit  (Gas, 
or  Geist,  is  the  German  for  Spirit)  was  the  immediate  cause  of  their  death. 
But  he  contended  that  this  latter  Spirit  was  tlie  Spirit  of  Charcoal,  which 
would  have  produced  the  same  effect,  had  the  young  men  been  chanting 
psalms  instead  of  incantations ;  and  acquitted  the  Devil  of  all  direct  con- 
cern in  the  business.  The  Theological  Faculty  took  the  alarm:  even 
Physicians  pretended  to  be  horror-struck  at  Hoffman's  audacity.  The 
Controversy  and  its  appendages  embittered  several  years  of  this  great  and 
good  man's  life. 

[64]  p.  155. 
It  has  in  its  consequences  proved  no  trifling  evil  to  the  Christian  World, 
that  Aristotle's  Definitions  of  Nature   are  all  grounded  on  the  petty  and 
rather  rhetorical  than  philosophical  Antithesis  of  Nature  to  Art— a  con- 


NOTES.  OrCo 

ception  inadequate  to  the  demands  even  of  his  Philosophy.  Hence  in  the 
progress  of  his  reasoning,  he  confounds  the  Natura  JVatwata{iha.t  is,  the 
sum  total  of  the  Facts  and  Phaenomena  of  the  senses)  with  an  hypotheti- 
cal Natura  A'aturans  a  Goddess  Nature,  that  has  no  hetter  claim  to  a 
place  in  any  sober  system  of  Natural  Philosophy  than  the  Goddess  Multi- 
iudo ;  yet  to  which  Aristotle  not  rarel}^  gives  the  name  and  attributes  of 
the  Supreme  Being.  The  result  was,  that  the  Idea  of  God  thus  identifi- 
ed with  his  hypothetical  JVature  becomes  itself  but  an  Hypothesis,  or  at 
best  but  a  precarious  inference  from  incommensurate  premises  and  on 
disputable  Principles:  while  in  other  passages,  God  is  confounded  with 
(and  every  where,  in  Aristotle's  genuine  works,  included  in)  the  Uiiiverse  : 
which  most  grievous  error  it  is  the  great  and  characteristic  3Ierit  of  Plato 
to  have  avoided  and  denounced. 

[65J  p.  156. 

Take  one  passage  among  many  from  the  posthumous  Tracts  (1660)  of 
John  Smith,  not  the  least  Star  in  that  l)right  Constellation  of  Cambridge 
Men,  the  cotemporaries  of  Jeremy  Taylor.  "  While  we  reflect  on  our 
own  idea  of  Reason,  we  know  that  our  own  Souls  are  not  it,  but  only  par- 
take of  it;  and  that  we  have  it  xutu  inih^iv  and  not  xut^  ov<in]v.  Neither  can 
it  be  called  a  Faculty,  but  far  rather  a  Light,  which  we  enjo}^,  but  the 
Source  of  which  is  not  in  ourselves,  nor  rightly,  by  any  individual,  to  be 
denominated  mme."  Tliis^^itre  intelhgence  he  then  proceeds  to  contrast 
with  the  Discursive  Faculty,  i.  e.  the  Understanding. 

[See  extracts  from  Henry  More's  works,  in  note  59 — Am.  Ed.] 

[66]  p.  159. 

We  have  the  assurance  of  Bishop  Horsley,  that  the  Church  of  England 
does  not  demand  the  literal  Understanding  of  the  Document  contained  in 
the  second  (from  verse  8)  and  third  Chapters  of  Genesis  as  a  point  of  faith, 
or  regard  a  different  interpretation  as  affecting  the  orthodoxy,  of  the  in- 
terpreter :  Divines  of  the  most  unimpeachable  orthodoxy,  and  the  most 
averse  to  the  allegorizing  of  Scripture  history  in  general,  having  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  the  Christian  Church  adopted  or  permitted  it  in  this  in- 
stance. And  indeed  no  unprejudiced  man  can  pretend  to  doubt,  that  if 
in  any  other  work  of  Eastern  Origin  he  met  with  Trees  of  Life  and  of 
Knowledge ;  talking  and  conversable  Snakes ; 

Inque  rei  signum  Serpentem  serpere  jussmn  ; 

he  would  want  no  other  proofs  that  it  was  an  Allegoiy  he  was  reading, 
and  intended  to  be  understood  as  such.  Nor,  supposing  him  conversant 
with  Oriental  works  of  any  thing  like  the  same  antiquity,  could  it  surprise 
him  to  find  events  of  true  history  in  connexion  with,  or  historical  person- 
ages among  the  Actors  and  Interlocutors  of,  the  Parable.      In  the  temple- 


321  AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 

Jaiigujigo  of  Egypt  tlic  Ser])ent  was  tlie  Symbol  of  the  Understanding  in 
its  twofold  function,  namely,  as  the  faculty  o^  means  to  proximate  or  medial 
ends,  analogous  to  the  instinct  of  the  more  intelligent  Animals,  Ant,  Bee, 
Beaver,  <fcc.,  and  opposed  to  the  practical  Reason,  as  the  Determinant  of  the 
ultimate  End ;  and  again  it  typifies  the  understanding  as  the  discursive  and 
logical  Faculty  possessed  individually  by  each  Individual — the  Logos  h  ly-a- 
c(n,  in  distinction  from  the  Nous  i.  e.  Intuitive  Reason,  the  Source  of  Ideas 
and  ABSOLUTE  Truths,  and  the  Principle  of  the  Necessaiy  and  the  Universal 
in  our  Aftirmations  and  Conclusions.    Without,  or  in  contra- vention  to,  the 
Jieason  [i.  e.  "  the  spiritual  mind"  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  LAglit  that  lighteth 
cvcrij  man"of  St.  John)  this  Vnderstandmg  {(pporrji a  aapy.og,  or  carnal  mind) 
becomes  the  sophistic  Principle,  the  wily  Tempter  to  Evil  by  counterfeit 
Good;  the  Pander  and  Advocate  of  the  Passions  and  Appetites ;  ever  in 
league  with,  and  always  first  ap})lying  to,  the  Desire,  as  the  mferior  nature 
in  Man,  the  Woman  in  our  Humanity;  and  through  the  Desire  prevaihng 
on  the  Will  (the  Manhood,  Virtue)  against  the  command  of  the  Universal 
Reason,  and  against  the  Light  of  Reason  in  the  Will  itself.     N.  B.  This 
essential  inherence  of  an   intelligential   Principle  ((fw?  rofpoj)  in  the  Will 
((fp^f;  (i(hiriy.ii\  or  rather  the  Will  itself  thus  considered,  the    Greeks  ex- 
I)ressed  by  an  appi-opriate  word  [^uv'/.i,').     This,  but  little  differing  from  Ori- 
gin's interpretation  or  hyi)othesis,  is  supported  and  confirmed  by  the  veiy 
old  Tradition  of  the  Homo  androgjjnus,  i.  e.  that  the  oj'iginal  Man,  the  Indi- 
vidual first  created,  was  bi-sexual:  a  chima3ra,of  which  and  of  many  other 
mythological  traditions  the  most   probal)le  explanation  is,  that  they  were 
originally  symbolical  Glyphs  or  Sculptures,  and  afterwards  translated  into 
ivords,  yet  litcrallij,  i.  e.  into  the  common  names  of  the  several  Figures  and 
Images  composing  the  Symbol,  while  the  symbolic  meaning  was  left  to  be 
decy})hered  as  before,  and  sacred  to  the  uiitiate.     As  to  the  alistruseness 
and  subtlety  of  the  Conceptions,  this  is  so  far  from  being  an  objection  to 
this  oldest  Gloss  on  this  veneral)le  Relic  of  Shemitic,  not  impossibly  ante- 
diluvian, Philosophy,   that  to  those  who  have  carried  their  researclies  far- 
thest  back  into  Greek,  Egyptian,  Persian,   and  Indian  Antiquity,  it  will 
seem  a  strong  confirmation.     Or  if  I  chose   to  address  the  sceptic  in  the 
language  of  the  day,  I  might  remind   him,  that   as  Alchemy  went  before 
Chemistry,  and  Astrology  before  Astronomy,  so  in  all  countries  of  civili- 
zed Man  have  Metaphysics  outrun  Common  Sense.     Fortunately  for  us 
that  they  have  so!     For  from  all  we  know  of  the  immetaphysical  tribes 
of  New  Holland  and  elsewhere,  a  Common  Sense  not  preceded  by  IMeta- 
])hysics  is  no  very  enviable  concern.     O  be  not  cheated,  my  youthful  Rea- 
der, by  this  shallow  prate  !  The  creed  of  true  Common  Sense  is  compo- 
sed of  the  JtesvUs  of  scientific  Meditation,  Observation,  and  Experiment, 
as   far  as   they  are  generally  intelligible.     It  differs  therefore  in  diflerent 
countries  and  in  every  different  age  of  the  same  Country.     The  Common 
Sense  of  a  People  is  the  moveable  index  of  its  average  judgment  and  in- 


NOTES.  325 

formation.     Without  Metaphysics  Science  cou  Id  have  had  no  language, 
and  Common  Sense  no  materials. 

But  to  return  to  my  subject.    It  cannot  he  imi)ugned,  that  the  Mosaic 
Narmtive  thus  interpreted  gives  a  just  and  faithful  exposition  of  the  hirth 
and   parentage   and   successive  moments   of  phcenomeiml  Sin  (Peccatum 
phfBnomenon :  Crimen  primarium  et  commune),  that  is,  of  Sin  as  it  reveals 
itself  in  time,  and  is  an  immediate  Ohject  of  Consciousness.     And  in  this 
sense  most  truly  does  the  Apostle  assert,  that  in  Adam  we  all  fell.    The 
first  human  Sinner  is  the  adequate  Representative  of  all   his  Successors. 
And  with  no  less  truth  may  it  he  said,  that  it  is  the  same  Adam  that  falls 
in  eveiy  man,  and  from  the  same  reluctance  to  abandon  the  too  dear  and 
undivorceable  Eve  :  and  the  same  Eve  tempted  by  the  same  serpentine 
and  perverted   Understanding  which,  framed   originally  to   be  the  Inter- 
preter of  the  Reason  and  the  ministering  Angel  of  the  Spirit,  is  henceforth 
sentenced  and  liound  over  to  the  service  of  the  Animal  Nature,  its  needs 
and  its  cravings,   dependent  on  the  Senses  for   all  its  materials,  with  the 
World  of  Sense  for  its  appointed  Sphere;  "Upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go, 
and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy  life."     I  have  shown  elsewhere, 
tliat  as  the  Instinct  of  the  mere  intelligence  differs  in  degree  not  in   kind, 
and  circ  umstantially,  not  essentially,  from  the  Vis  Vita3,  or  Vital  Power  in 
the  assi)iiilative  and  digestive  functions  of  the  Stomach  and  other  organs 
of  Nutrition,   that  even  so  the  Understanding,  in  itself  and  distinct  from 
the  Reason  and  Conscience,  differs  in  degree  only  from  the  Instinct  in  the 
Animal.     It  is  still  but  "a  beast  of  the  field,"  though  "more  subtle  than 
any  beast  of  the  field,"  and  therefore  in  its  corruption  and  perversion  "cur- 
sed above  any" — a  pregnant  Word !  of  which^   if  the  Reader  wants  an 
exposition  or  paraphrase,  he  may  find  one  more  than  two  thousand  years 
old  among  the  fragments  of  the  Poet  Menander.     (See  Cumberland's  Ob- 
server No.  CL.  vol,  iii.  p.  289,  290.)    This  is  the  Understanding  which  in 
its  "eye?T/  ThougJd''^  is  to  be  brought  ^^  tinder  obedience  to  Faith  ;"  which  it 
can  scarcely  fail  to  be,  if  only  it  be  first  subjected  to  the  Reason,  of  which 
spiritual  Faith  is  even  the  Blossoming  and  the  fructifying  jjrocess.     For  it 
is  indifferent  whether  I  say  that  Faith  is  the  interpenetration  of  the  Rea- 
son and  the  Will,  or  that  it  is  at  once  the  Assurance  and  the  Commence- 
ment of  the  approaching  Union  between  the  Reason  and  the  Intelligible 
Realities,  the  Living  and  Sid)stantial  Truths,   that  are  even  in  this  life  its 
most  proper  Objects. 

I  have  thus  put  the  reader  in  possession  of  my  own  opinions  respecting 
the  Nan*ative  in  Gen.  ii.  and  iii.  '"itr/r  ow  (!»;,  w«  luotyf  Soy.ei,  Uno;  iiv6o^, 
a.'.ii^taTarov  y.ai  ao/aioTuTov  iit}.oao(f}iiu,  nm^tai  inv  of^uoua,  avvfTOtg  ts  (fvjvni' 
i?  Ss  TO  nav  {piajvto^g  ;raTitsi.  Or  I  might  ask  with  Augustine,  Why  not 
both  ?  Why  not  at  once  Symbol  and  History  ?  or  rather  how  should  it  be 
otherwise?  Must  not  of  necessity  the  first  man  be  aSv.-iiBOL  of  iMankind, 
in  the  fullest  force  of  the  word,  Symbol,  rightly  defined— viz.  A  symbol  is  a 
sign  included  in  the  Idea  which  it  represents :  ex.  gr.  an  aclWdXpart  chosen  to 


326  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

represent  the  tvhole,  as  a  lip  with  a  chin  prominent  is  a  Symbol  of  Man ; 
or  a  lower  form  or  si)ecies  used  as  the  representative  of  a  higher  in  the 
same  kind :  by  which  definition  the  Symbolical  is  distinguished  toto  genere 
from  the  Allegoric  and  Metaphorical.  But,  perhaps,  parables,  allegories, 
and  allegorical  or  typical  applications,  are  incompatible  with  inspired  Scrip- 
ture !  The  writings  of  St.  Paul  are  sufficient  proof  of  the  contrary.  Yet 
I  readily  acknowledge,  that  allegorical  applications  are  one  thing,  and  alle- 
gorical interpretation  another:  and  that  where  there  is  no  ground  for  sup- 
posing such  a  sense  to  have  entered  into  the  intent  and  pui-jjose  of  the 
sacred  Penman,  tliey  are  not  to  be  commended.  So  far,  indeed,  am  I  from 
entertaining  any  predilection  for  them,  or  any  favourable  opinion  of  the 
Rabbinical  Commentators  and  Traditionists,  from  whom  the  fashion  was 
derived,  that  in  cariying  it  as  far  as  our  own  church  has  carried  it,  I  follow 
her  judgment  and  not  my  own.  But  in  the  first  place,  I  know  but  one 
other  part  of  the  Scriptures  not  universally  held  to  be  parabolical,  which, 
not  without  the  sanction  of  great  authorities,  I  am  disposed  to  regard  as  an 
Apologue  or  Parable,  namely,  the  Book  of  Jonas  ;  the  reasons  for  believ- 
ing the  Jewish  Nation  collectively  to  be  therein  impersonated,  seeming  to 
me  unanswerable.  (See  the  Appendix  to  the  Statesman's  Manual,  Note 
B.)  Secondly,  as  to  chapters  now  in  question — that  such  interpretation  is 
at  least  tolerated  by  our  church,  I  have  the  word  of  one  of  her  most  Zeal- 
ous Champions.  And  lastly,  it  is  my  deliberate  and  conscientious  convic- 
tion, that  the  proofs  of  such  having  been  the  intention  of  the  inspired 
Writer  or  Compiler  of  the  book  of  Genesis,  lie  on  the  face  of  the  Narra- 
tive itself. 

[The  curious  reader  may  find  a  similar  view  of  this  subject  in  Henry 
More's  "Philosophical  Cabbala"  in  his  Philosophical  Works.  See  also 
notes  33  and  54.— Am.  Ed.] ; 

[67]  p.  161. 

This  sense  of  the  word  is  implied  even  in  its  metaphorical  or  figurative 
use.  Thus  we  may  say  of  a  River  that  it  onginates  in  such  or  such  2l  foun- 
tain ;  but  the  water  of  a  Canal  is  deiived  from  such  or  such  a  River.  The 
Power  which  we  call  nature,  may  be  thus  defined  :  a  Power  subject  to  the 
Law  of  Continuity  {Lex  Cordinui. — In  JVaturd  non  daiur  Soltus^)  which  law 
the  human  Understanding,  by  a  necessity  arising  out  of  its  own  constitu- 
tion, can  conceive  only  under'the  form  of  Cause  and  Effect.  That  this 
form  (or  law)  of  Cause  and  Effect  is  (relatively  to  the  World  withoid,  or  to 
Things  as  they  subsist  independently  of  our  perceptions)  only  a  form 
or  mode  of  thinking ;  that  it  is  a  law  inherent  in  the  Understandmg  itself 
(just  as  the  symmetry  of  the  miscellaneous  objects  seen  by  the  kaleido- 
scope inheres  in  (i.  e.  results  from)  the  mechanism  of  the  kaleidoscope 
itselt) — this  becomes  evident  as  soon  as  we  attempt  to  apply  the  pre-con- 
ception  direcdy  to  any  operation  of  Nature.    For  in  this  case  we  are  for- 


NOTES.  327 

ced  to  represent  the  cause  as  being  at  tlie  same  instant  the  effect,  and  vice 
versa  the  effect  as  being  the  cause — a  relation  which  we  seek  to  express 
by  the  temis  Action  and  Re-action  ;  but  for  which  the  term  Reciprocal 
Action  or  the  Law  of  Reciprocity  [gemimiick.  Wechselwirkung)  would  be 
both  more  accurate  and  more  expressive. 

These  are  truths  which  can  scaicely  be  too  fi-equently  impressed  on  the 
Mind  that  is  in  earnest  in  the  wish  to  reflect  aright.  Nature  is  a  Line  in 
constant  and  continuous  evolution.  Its  beginning  is  lost  in  the  Super-natu- 
ral :  and  for  our  understanding,  therefore,  it  must  appear  as  a  continuous 
line  witliout  begmning  or  end.  But  where  there  is  no  discontinuity  there 
can  be  no  origination,  and  every  appearance  of  origination  in  JVature  is  but 
a  shadow  of  our  own  casting.  It  is  a  reflection  from  our  own  WHl  or  Spirit. 
Herein,  mdeed,  the  Will  consists.  Tliis  is  the  essential  character  by  which 
WILL  is  opposed  to  Nature,  as  Spirit,  and  raised  above  Nature  as  self-deter- 
mining Spirit — this,  namely,  that  it  is  a  power  of  originating  an  act  or 
state. 

A  young  friend  or,  as  he  was  pleased  to  describe  himself,  a  pupil  of 
mine,  who  is  beginning  to  learn  to  think,  asked  me  to  explain  by  an  instance 
what  is  meant  by  ^^originating  an  act  or  state."    My  answer  was — This 
morning  I  awoke  with  a  dulx  pain,  which  I  knew  from  experience  the 
getting  up  would  remove ;  and  yet  by  adding  to  the  drowsiness  and  by 
weakening  or  depressing  the  volition  {voluntas  sensorialis  seu  mechanica) 
the  very  pain  seemed  to  hold  me  back,  to  fix  me  (as  it  were)  to  the  bed. 
After  a  peevish  ineffectual  quarrel  with  this  painful  disinclination,  I  said 
to  myself:   Let  me  count  twenty,  and  the  moment  I  come  to  nineteen  I 
will  leap  out  of  bed.     So  said  and  so  done.     Now  should  you  ever  find 
yourself  in  the  same  or  in  a  similar  state,  and  should  attend  to  the  Goings- 
on  within  you,  you  will  learn  what  I  mean  by  originating  an  act.     At  the 
same  time  you  will  see  that  it  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Will  [arbitrium] ; 
that  there  is  nothing  analogous  to  it  in  outward  experiences  ;  and  that  I 
had,  therefore,  no  way  of  exjilaining  it  but  by  referring  you  to  an  Act  of 
your  own,  and  to  the  peculiar  self-consciousness  preceding  and  accompa- 
nying it.     As  we  know  what  Life  is  by  Being,  so  we  know  what  Will  is 
by  Acting.    That  in  willing  (replied  my  young  friend)  we  appear  to  our- 
selves to  constitute  an   actual  Beginning,  and  that  this  seems  unique,  and 
without  any  example  in  our  sensible  experience,  or  in  the  phaenomena  of 
Nature,  is  an  mideniable  fact.    But  may  it  not  be  an  illusion  arising  from 
our  ignorance  of  the  antecedent  causes  ?  You  w«?/ suppose  this  (I  rejoined) 
that  the  soul  of  every  man  should  impose  a  Lie  on  itself;  and  that  tliis  Lie, 
and  the  acting  on  the  faith  of  its  being  the  most  important  of  all  truths  and 
the  most  real  of  all  realities,  should  form  the  main  contra-distinctive  cha- 
racter of  Humanity,  and  the  only  basis  of  that  distinction  between  Things 
and  Persons  on  which  our  whole  moral  and  criminal  Law  is  grounded — 
You  can  suppose  this !  I  cannot,  as  I  could  in  the  case  of  an  arithmetical 


328  AIDS    TO    REFLECTIO^:^. 

or  geometrical  proposition,  render  it  impossible  for  you  to  suppose  it.    Whe- 
ther you  can  reconcile  such  a  supposition  with  the  belief  of  an  All-wise 
Creator,  is  another  question.     But  taken  singly,  it  is  doubtless  in  your  pow- 
er to  suppose  this.     Were  it  not,   the  belief  of  the  contrary  would  be  no 
subject  of  a  Command,  no  part  of  a  moral  or  religious  Duty.    You  would 
not,  however,  suppose  it  without  a  reason.     But  all  the  pretexts  that  ever 
have  been  or  ever  can  be  afforded  for  this  supposition,  are  built  on  certain 
jYotions  of  the  Understandmg  that  have  been  generahzed  from  Conceptions ; 
which  conceptions,  again,  are  themselves  generalized  or  abstracted  from 
ol)jects  of  Sense.     Neither  the  one  or  the  other,  therefore,  have  any  force 
except  in  application  to   objects  of  Sense  and  within  the  sphere  of  sensi- 
ble Experience.     What  but  absurdity  can  follow,  if  you  decide  on  Spirit 
by  the  laws  of  Matter  ?    If  you  judge  that  which,  if  it  be  at  all,  must  be 
super-sensuai,  by  that  faculty  of  your  mind,  the  very  definition  of  which 
is  "the  Facidty  judging  according  to  Sense?"     These  then  are  unworthy 
the  name  of  reasons  :  they  are  only  pretexts.     But  ivitJiout  reason  to  con- 
tradict your  own  Consciousness  in  defiance   of  your  own  Conscience,  is 
contrail)  to  Reason.     Such  and  such  Writers,  you  say,  have  made  a  great 
sensation.     If  so,  I  am  sony   for  it ;  but  the  fact  I  take  to  be  this.    From 
a  variety  of  causes   the  more  austere  Sciences  have  fallen   into  discredit, 
and  Impostors  have  taken  advantage  of  the  general  ignorance  to  give  a 
sort  of  mysterious  and  terrific  importance  to  a  parcel  of  trashy  Sophistry, 
tlie  authors  of  which  would  not  have  employed  themselves  more  irration- 
ally in  submitting  the  works  of  Rafael  or  Titian  to  Canons  of  Criticism 
deduced  from  the  Sense  of  Smell.     Nay,    less  so.  For  here  the  Objects 
and  the  Organs  are  only  disparate :  while  in  the  other  case  they  are  abso- 
lutely diverse.     I  conclude  this  note  by  remindijlg  the  reader,  that  my  first 
object  is  to  make  myself  miderstood.    When  h0  is  in  full  possession  of  my 
meaning,  then   let  him  consider  whether  it  deserves  to  be  received  as  the 
truth. 

Had  it  been  my  immediate  purpose  to  make  him  helieve  me  as  well  as 
understand  me,  I  should  have  thought  it  necessary  to  warn  him  that  a 
Jinite  Will  does  indeed  originate  an  act,  and  may  originate  n state  of  being; 
but  yet  only  in  and  for  the  Agent  himself.  A  finite  Will  constitutes  a  true 
Beginning;  but  with  regard  to  the  series  of  motions  and  changes  by 
which  the  free  act  is  manifested  and  made  effectual,  the  Jinite  Will  gives  a 
beginning  only  by  co-incidence  with  that  ahsolute  Will,  wliich  is  at  the 
same  time  Infinite  Poaver!  Such  is  the  language  of  Religion,  and  of 
Philosophy  too  in  the  last  instance.  But  I  ex}M'ess  the  same  truth  in  or- 
dinary language  wlien  I  say,  that  a  finite  W^ill,  or  the  Will  of  a  finite  Free- 
agent,  acts  outwardly  l)y  confluence  with  the  Laws  of  Nature. 

[Sec  notes  29,  43,  and  59.— A bt.  Ed.] 


NOTES. 


329 


[68]  p.  1G4. 

It  may  conduce  to  iJie  readier  comprehension  of  this  point  if  I  say,  tliat 
tlie  Equivoque  consists  in  confounding  the  almost  technical  Sense  of  the 
JVoim  Suhstantive,  Riglit  (a  sense  most  often  determined  by  the  genitive 
case  following,  as  the  Eight  of  Propeity,  the  Right  of  Husbands  to  cha.s- 
tise  their  Wives,  and  so  forth^  with  the  popular  sense  of  the  Adjective,  right : 
though  this  likewise  has,  if  not  a  double  sense,  yet  a  double  application 
— the  fii-st,  when  it  is  used  to  express  the  fitness  of  a  mean  to  a  relative 
End,  ex.  gr.  "  the  right  way  to  obtain  the  right  distance  at  which  a  Picture 
should  be  examined,"  &c. ;  and  the  other,  when  it  expresses  a  perfect  con- 
formity and  commensurateness  with  the  immutable  Idea  of  Equity,  or 
perfect  Rectitude.  Hence  the  close  connexion  between  the  words,  right- 
eousness and  g-orfhness,  i.  e.  godlikeness. 

I  should  be  tempted  to  subjoin  a  few  words  on  a  predominating  doc- 
trine closely  connected  witli  the  present  argument — the  Paleian  Principle 
of  General  Conseque>xes  ;  but  the  inadequacy  of  this  Principle,  as  a 
criterion  of  Right  and  Wrong,  and  above  all  its  utter  unfitness  as  a  Moral 
Guide,  have  been  elsewhere  so  fully  stated  (Friend,  vol.  ii.  p.  236 — 240), 
that  even  in  again  referring  to  the  subject,  I  must  shelter  myself  under 
Seneca's  rule,  that  what  we  cannot  too  frequently  think  of,  we  cannot  too  oft- 
en be  made  to  recollect.  It  is,  however,  of  immediate  importance  to  the 
point  in  discussion,  that  the  Reader  should  be  made  to  see  how  altogether 
incompatible  the  principle  of  judging  by  general  consequences  is  with  the 
Idea  of  an  Eternal,  Omnipresent  and  Omniscient  Being !  that  he  should 
be  made  aware  of  the  absurdity  of  attributing  aiiy  form  of  Generalization 
to  the  all-perfeet  Mind.  To  gmerdize  is  a  faculty  and  function  of  the  Hu- 
man Understanding,  and  from  its  imperfection  and  limitation  are  the  iiso 
and  the  necessity  of  generalizing  derived.  Generalization  is  a  Substitute 
for  Intuition,  for  the  Power  of  intuitive  (that  is,  immediate)  knowledge. 
As  a  Substitute,  it  is  a  gift  of  inestimable  Value  to  a  finite  Intelligence, 
such  as  Man  hi  his  present  state  is  endowed  with  and  capable  of  exerci- 
sing ;  but  yet  a  Substitute  only,  and  an  imperfect  one  to  boot.  To  attri- 
bute it  to  God  is  the  gi-ossest  Anthropomorphism :  aud  grosser  instances 
of  Anthropomorphism  than  are  to  be  foimd  in  the  controversial  writings 
on  Original  Sin  and  Vicai'ious  Satisfaction,  the  Records  of  Superstition  do 
not  supply. 

[See  note  2.3.— Am.  Ed.] 

[69]  p.  167. 

Availing  himself  of  the  equivocal  sense,  and  (I  most  readily  admit)  the 
injudicious  use,  of  the  word  "free"  in  the — even  on  this  ncconnt—fmdtt/ 
phrase,  "/ree  only  to  sin,"  Jeremy  Taylor  treats  the  notion  of  a  power  in 
the  Will  of  determining  itself  to  evil  without  an  equal  power  of  determin- 

42 


330  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ing  itself  to  Good,  as  a  '■^foolery.''''  I  would  this  had  been  the  only  in- 
stance in  his  "  Deus  Justiiicatus"  of  that  inconsiderate  contempt  so  fre- 
quent in  the  polemic  treatises  of  minor  Divines,  who  will  have  Ideas  of 
Reason,  Spiritual  Truths  that  can  only  be  spiritually  discerned,  translated 
for  them  into  adequate  conceptions  of  the  Understanding.  The  great  arti- 
cles of  Corruption  and  Redemption  are  propounded  to  us  as  Spiritual  Mys- 
teries ;  and  every  interpretation,  that  pretends  to  explain  them  into  com- 
prehensible notions,  does  by  its  veiy  success  furnish  presumptive  proof  of 
its  failure.  The  acuteness  and  logical  dexterity,  with  which  Taylor  has 
brought  out  the  falsehood  or  semblance  of  falsehood  in  the  Calvinistic 
scheme,  are  truly  admirable.  Had  he  next  concentered  his  thoughts  in 
tranquil  meditation,  and  asked  himself:  What  then  is  the  truth  ?  If  a 
Will  he  at  all,  what  must  a  will  be ! — he  might,  I  think,  have  seen  that  a 
JVature  in  a  Will  implies  already  a  Cori-uption  of  that  Will ;  that  a  JVature 
is  as  inconsistent  with  freedom^  as  free  choice  with  an  incapacity  of  choo- 
sing aught  but  evil.  And  lastly,  a  free  power  in  a  JS/ature  to  fulfil  a  Law 
above  Natin-e ! — I,  who  love  and  honour  this  good  and  great  man  with  all 
the  reverence  that  can  dwell  "on  this  side  idolatry,"  dare  not  retort  on  this 
assertion  the  charge  of  Foolery ;  but  I  find  it  a  paradox  as  startling  to  my 
Reason  as  any  of  the  hard  sayings  of  the  Dorp  Divines  were  to  his  Under- 
standing. S.  T.  C. 

[See  notes  29  and  45. — Am.  Ed.] 

[70]  p.  177. 

For  a  specimen  of  these  Rabbinical  Dotages  I  refer,  not  to  the  wri- 
tings of  Mystics  and  enthusiasts,  but  to  the  shrewd  and  witty  Dr.  South, 
one  of  whose  most  elaborate  Sermons  stands  prominent  among  the  many 
splendid  extravaganzas  on  this  subject. 

[71]  p.  180. 

A  Learned  Order  must  be  supposed  to  consist  of  three  Classes.  First, 
those  who  are  employed  in  adding  to  the  existing  Sum  of  Power  and 
Knowledge.  Second,  and  most  numerous  Class,  those  whose  office  it  is 
to  diffuse  through  the  community  at  large  the  practical  Results  of  Science 
and  that  kind  and  degree  of  knowledge  and  cultivation,  which  for  all  is 
requisite  or  clearly  useful.  Third,  the  Formers  and  Instructors  of  the 
Second — in  Schools,  Halls  and  Universities,  or  through  the  medium  of  the 
Press.  The  second  Class  includes  not  only  the  Parochial  Clergy,  and  all 
others  duly  ordained  to  the  Ministerial  Office  ;  but  likewise  all  the  Mem- 
bers of  the  Legal  and  Medical  Professions,  who  have  received  a  learned 
education  under  accredited  and  responsible  Teachers. 


NOTES. 


331 


[72]  p. 181. 

The  Author  of  tlie  Statesman's  Manual,  must  be  the  most  inconsist- 
ent of  men,  if  he  can  be  justly  suspected  of  a  leaning  to  the  Romish 
Church :  or  if  it  be  necessaiy  for  him  to  repeat  his  fervent  Amen  to  the 
Wish  and  Prayer  of  our  late  good  old  King,  that  every  adult  in  the  Brit- 
ish Empire  should  he  able  to  read  his  Bible,  and  have  a  Bible  to  read ! 
Nevertheless,  it  may  not  be  supei-fluous  to  declare,  that  in  thus  })rotestiiig 
against  the  licence  of  private  interpretation,  the  Editor  does  not  mean  to 
condemn  the  exercise  or  deny  the  right  of  individual  judgment.  He  con- 
demns only  the  pretended  right  of  eveiy  Individual,  competent  and  in- 
competent, to  inteipret  Scripture  in  a  sense  of  his  own,  in  oj)position  to 
the  judgment  of  the  Church,  without  knowledge  of  the  Originals  or  of 
the  Languages,  the  History,  Customs,  Oj>inions  and  Controversies  of  the 
Age  and  Country  in  which  they  were  written  ;  and  where  the  Interpreter 
judges  in  ignorance  or  in  contempt  of  uninterrupted  Tradition,  the  unan- 
imous Consent  of  Fathers  and  Councils,  and  the  universal  Faith  of  the 
Church  in  all  ages.  It  is  not  the  attempt  to  form  a  judgment,  which  is 
here  called  m  question ;  but  the  grounds,  or  rather  the  no-grounds,  on 
which  the  judgment  is  formed  and  relied  on — ^the  self-willed  and  separa- 
tive [schismatic)  Setting-up  [hceresis).     See  note  13. 

My  fixed  Principle  is :  that  a  Christianity  without  a  Church  exer- 
cising Spiritual  authority  is  Vanity  and  Dissolution.  And  my  belief 
is,  that  when  Popery  is  rushing  in  onus  like  an  inundation,  the  Nation  will 
find  it  to  be  so.  I  say  Popery ;  for  this  too  I  hold  for  a  delusion,  that  Ro- 
manism or  Roman  Cathohcism  is  separable  from  Popery.  Almost  as  rea- 
dily could  I  suppose  a  Circle  without  a  Centre. 

[If  the  author  means  in  the  last  paragraph,  a  church  establishment  and 
its  attendant  authority,  the  experience  of  this  country  will  be  thought,  by 
most  Christians  here,  to  furnish  a  sufficient  answer. — Aai.  Ed.] 

[73]  p.  187. 

To  escape  the  consequences  of  this  scheme,  some  Arminian  Divines 
have  asserted  that  the  penalty  inflicted  on  Adam  and  continued  in  his  pos- 
terity was  simply  the  loss  of  immortality.  Death  as  the  utter  extinction  of 
personal  Being :  immoitality  being  regarded  by  them  (and  not,  I  think, 
without  good  reason)  as  a  super-natural  attribute,  and  its  loss  therefore  in- 
volved in  tlie  forfeiture  of  super-natural  graces.  This  theory  has  its  gold- 
en side  :  and  as  a  private  opinion,  is  said  to  have  the  countenance  of  more 
than  one  Dignitary  of  our  Chiu'ch,  whose  general  orthodoxy  is  beyond 
impeachinent.  For  here  the  Penalty  resolves  itself  into  the  Consequence, 
and  this  \he  natural  and  [naturally)  inevitable  Consequence  of  Adam's 
Crime.  For  x\dam,  indeed,  it  was  a  positive  punishment :  a  punishment 
of  his  guilt,  the  justice  of  which  who  could  have  dared  arraign  ?    While 


333 


AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 


for  the  Oifripriiig  qf  Adam  it  was  simply  a  not  superadding  to  their  nature 
the  i)nvilege  by  which  the  Original  Man  was  contra-distinguished  fromtho 
brute  creation — a  mere  negation,  of  which  they  had  no  more  right  to 
complain  than  any  other  species  of  Animals.  God  in  this  view  appears 
only  in  his  Attiibute  of  Mercy,  as  averting  by  supernatural  interposition  a 
consequence  naturally  inevitable.  This  is  the  golden  side  of  the  Theory. 
But  if  we  approach  to  it  from  tJie  opposite  direction,  it  first  excites  a  just 
scruple  from  the  countenance  it  seems  to  give  to  the  doctrine  of  Material- 
ism. The  supporters  of  this  Scheme  do  not,  I  presume,  contend,  that  Ad- 
am's Offspring  would  not  have  been  born  Men,  but  have  formed  a  new 
species  of  Beasts  ?  And  if  not,  the  notion  of  a  rational  and  self-conscious 
Soul,  perishing  utterly  with  the  dissolution  of  the  organized  Body,  seems 
to  require,  nay,  almost  involves,  the  opinion  that  the  Soul  is  a  quahty  or 
Accident  of  the  Body — a  mere  harmony  resulting  fi'om  Organization. 

But  let  this  pass  unquestioned !  Whatever  else  the  Descendants  of  Ad- 
am might  have  been  without  the  intercession  of  Christ,  yet  (this  interces- 
sion having  been  effectually  made)  they  are  now  endowed  with  Souls  that 
are  not  extinguished  together  with  the  material  body.  Now  unless  these 
Divines  teach  likewise  the  Romish  figment  of  Purgatory,  and  to  an  extent 
in  which  tlie  Church  of  Rome  herself  would  denounce  the  doctrine  as  an 
impious  heresy :  unless  they  hold,  that  a  punishment  temporary  and  re- 
medial is  the  worst  evil  that  the  Impenitent  have  to  apprehend  in  a  Future 
State  ;  and  that  tJie  s})iritual  Death  declared  and  foretold  by  Christ,  "the 
Death  Eternal  where  tlie  Worm  never  dies,"  is  neither  Death  nor  eternal, 
but  a  certain  quantum  of  Suffering  in  a  state  of  faith,  hope,  and  progres- 
sive amendment — unless  they  go  these  lengths  (and  the  Divines  here  in- 
tended are  orthodox  Churchmen,  men  who  would  not  knowingly  advance 
even  a  step  on  the  road  towards  them) — then  I  fear,  that  any  advantage, 
their  theory  might  possess  over  the  Calvinistic  Scheme  in  the  article  of 
Original  Sin,  would  be  dearly  purchased  by  increased  difficulties  and  an 
ultra-Calvinistic  narrowness  in  the  article  of  Redemption.  I  at  least  find 
it  impossible,  with  my  present  human  feelings,  not  to  imagine  otherwise, 
than  that  even  in  heaven  it  would  be  a  fearful  thing  to  know,  that  in  or- 
der to  my  elevation  to  a  lot  infinitely  more  desirable  than  by  nature  it 
would  have  been,  the  lot  of  so  vast  a  multitude  had  been  rendered  infi- 
nitely more  calamitous  ;  and  that  my  fehcity  had  been  purchased  by  the 
everlasting  misery  of  the  majority  of  my  fellow-men,  who,  if  no  redemp- 
tion had  been  provided,  afler  inheriting  the  pains  and  pleasin-es  of  earthly 
existence  during  the  numbered  hours,  and  the  few  and  evil — evil  yet  few — 
days  of  the  years  of  their  mortal  life,  Avould  have  fallen  asleep  to  wake  no 
more,  would  have  sunk  into  the  drcamle;5s  Sleep  of  the  Grave,  and  have 
been  as  the  murmur,  and  the  [)laint,  and  the  exulting  swell,  and  the  sharp 
scream,  which  the  unequal  Gust  of  Yesterday  snatched  from  the  strings  of 
a  Wind-llarp ! 


NOTES.  i555 

In  another  place  I  have  ventured  to  question  the  BpWt  and  tendency  of 
J.  Taylor's  Work  on  Repentance.  But  I  ought  to  have  added,  that  to  dis- 
cover and  keep  the  tiue  medium  in  expounding  and  applying  the  Eflicacy 
of  Christ's  Cross  and  Passion,  is  heyond  compare  the  most,  difficult  and 
dehcate  point  of  Practical  Divinity — and  that  which  especially  needs  "  a 
guidance  from  above,'''' 

[74]  p.  190. 

St.  Paul  blends  both  forms  of  expression,  and  asserts  the  same  doctrine 
when  speaking  of  the  "celestial  body"  provided  for  "the  New  Man"  uithe 
spiritual  Flesh  and  Blood,  (i.  e.  the  informing  power  and  vivific  hfe  of  the 
incarnate  Word :  for  the  Blood  is  the  Life,  and  the  Flesh  the  Power) — 
when  speaking,  I  say,  of  this  "  celestial  body,"  as  an  "  house  not  made  witli 
hands,  eternal  t?i  the  heavens,^^  yet  brought  down  to  us,  made  appropriable 
by  faith,  and  ours — he  adds :  "  For  in  this  earthly  house  (i.  e.  this  moital 
life,  as  the  inward  principle  or  energy  of  our  Tabernacle,  or  outward  and 
sensible  Body)  we  groan,  earnestly  desiring  to  be  clothed  upon  with  our 
house  which  is  from  heaven :  not  that  we  would  be  unclothed,  but  clothed 
upon,  that  MortaUty  might  be  swallowed  up  of  life."    2  Cor.  v.  1 — 4. 

The  four  last  words  of  the  first  verse  [eternal  in  the  heavens)  compared 
with  the  conclusion  of  v.  2  [which  is  from  heaven),  present  a  coincidence 
with  John  iii.  v.  13,  "  And  no  man  hath  ascended  up  to  heaven  but  he  that 
came  down  from  heaven,  even  the  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  heaven."  [Qy. 
Whetlier  the  coincidence  would  not  be  more  apparent,  if  the  words  of 
John  had  been  rendered  word  for  word,  even  to  a  disregard  of  the  En- 
glish Idiom,  and  with  what  would  be  servile  and  superstitious  fidelity  in 
the  translation  of  a  common  classic  ?  I  can  see  no  reason  why  the  ov(5£i?, 
so  firequent  in  St.  John,  should  not  be  rendered  literall}^,  no  one ;  and  there 
may  be  a  reason  why  it  should.  I  have  some  doubt  likewise  respecting 
the  omission  of  the  definite  articles,  ror,  rov,  tm — and  a  greater,  as  to  the 
o  (ov,  both  in  this  place  and  in  John  i.  v.  18,  being  adequately  rendered  by 
our  "  ivhich  is"  P.  S.  What  sense  some  of  the  Greek  Fathers  attached  to, 
or  infeiTed  from,  St.  Paul's  "  m  the  Heavens"  the  Theological  Student  (and 
to  Theologians  is  this  note  principally  addressed)  may  find  in  Water- 
land's  Letters  to  a  Country  Clergyman — a  Divine,  whose  Judgment  and 
strong  soimd  sense  are  as  unquestionable  as  his  Learning  and  Orthodoxy. 
A  Clergyman  in  full  Orders,  who  has  never  read  the  works  of  Bull  and 
Waterland,  has — a  duty  yet  to  perform.] 

Let  it  not  be  objected,  that  forgetful  of  my  own  professed  aversion  to 
allegorical  inteipretations  (see  p.  13)  I  have  in  this  note  fallen  into  "  the 
fond  humour  of  the  Mystic  Divines  and  Allegorizers  of  Holy  Writ."  There 
is,  believe  me  !  a  wide  difference  between  symbolical  and  allegoncal.  If  I 
say,  that  the  Flesh  and  Blood  (Corpus  noumcnon)  of  the  Incarnate  Word 
is  Power  and  Life,  I  say  likewise  that  this  mysterious  Power  and  Life  are 


334  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

verilij  and  actually  the  Flesh  and  Blood  of  Christ.     They  are  the  Allegori- 
zcrs,  who  turn   the  6th  c.  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John — the  hard 
saying — who   can  hear  it  ?     AJ}.er  which  tinie  many  of  (Christ's)  Disciples, 
who  had  been  eye-witnesses  of  his  mighty  Miracles,  who  had  heard  the 
sublime  Morality  of  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount,   had  glorified  God  for  the 
Wisdom  which  they  had  heard,  and  had  been   prepared  to  acknowledge, 
"  this  is  indeed  the  Christ" — went  back  and  walked  no  more  with  him ! — 
the  hard  saying,  which  even  the  Twelve  were  not  yet  competent  to  un- 
derstand  farther  than  that  they  were  to  be   spiritually  understood  ;  and 
which  the  Chief  of  the  Apostles  was  content  to  receive  with  an  implicit 
and  anticipative   faith  ! — they,  I  repeat,  are  the  Allegorizers  who  moralize 
these  hard  sayings,  these  high  words  of  Mystery,  into  an  hyperbolical  Me- 
taphor per  Catachresin,  that  only  means  a  belief  of  the   Doctrines  which 
Paul   believed,   an  obedience  to   the  Law  respecting  which   Paul  "  was 
blameless,"  before  the  Voice  called  him  on  the  road  to  Damascus !     What 
every  Parent,  every  humane  Preceptor,  would  do  when  a  Child  had  mis- 
understood a  Metaphor  or  Apologue  in  a  literal  sense,  we  all  laiow.    But 
the  meek  and   merciful  Jesus  suffered  many  of  his   Disciples  to   fall  off 
from  eternal  life,   when  to  retain  them   he  had  only  to  say — O  ye  simple 
ones !  why  are  ye  offended  ?  My  words  indeed  sound  strange :  but  I  mean 
no  more  than  what  you  have  often  and  often  heard  from  me  before  with 
delight  and  entire  acquiescence ! — Credat  Judaeus !  Non  ego.  It  is  sufficient 
for  me  to  know  that  I  have  used  the  language  of  Paul  and  John  as  it  was 
understood  and  interpreted  by  Justin  Martyr,  TertulUan,  Irenaius,  and  (if 
he  does  not  lie)  by  the  whole  Christian  Church  then  existing. 

[75]  p.  192. 

[In  his  Literary  Life,  vol.  1.  c.  12,  the  Author  has  distinguished  trans- 
cendental and  transcendent,  accorthng  to  the  scholastic  use  of  them.  In 
philosophical  enquiries,  that  is  transcendental,  which  lies  beneath,  or,  as  it 
were  behind  our  ordinaiy  consciousness,  but  of  which  we  become  conscious 
by  a  voluntary  effort  of  self-inspection.  That  is  transcendent,  which  is  out 
of  the  reach  of  all  thought  and  self-consciousness,  and  cannot,  therefore, 
become  an  object  of  knowledge — and  a  transcendent  cause  is  a  cause,  the 
knowledge  of  which  as  it  is  in  itself,  lies  beyond  the  reach  of  all  our  cog- 
nitive faculties. — Am.  Ed.] 

[7G]  p.  193. 

This  word  occurs  but  once  in  the  New  Testament,  viz.  Romans  v.  11, 
the  marginal  rendering  being,  reconciliation.  The  personal  Noun,  i<aiid- 
XaxTYit,  is  still  in  use  with  the  modern  Greeks  for  a  money-changer,  or  one 
who  takes  the  debased  Currency,  so  general  in  countries  under  despotic 
or  other  dishonest  governments,  in  exchange  (or  sttu-ling  Coin  or  Bullion ; 
the  purchaser  paying   the  catallage,  i.  e.  the  dif!eR*nce.      In  the   elder 


NOTES.  335 

Greek  writers  the  verb  means  to  exchange  for  an  opposite,  as  z«r»,;.;.«fToero 
Tfjr  ey»qavfoi4  oraoiuratg. — He  exchanged  within  Iiimself  enmity  for  friend- 
ship (that  is,  he  reconciled  himself)  with  his  Paitj'' — or  as  we  say,  made  it 
up  with  them,  an  idiom  which  (Avith  whatever  loss  of  dignity)  gives  the  ex- 
act force  of  the  word.  He  made  up  the  difference.  The  Hebrew  word  of 
very  frequent  occm-rence  in  the  Pentateuch,  which  we  render  by  the  sub- 
stantive, atonement,  has  its  radical  or  visual  image,  in  copher,  pitch.  Gen. 
vi.  14.  thou  shall  pitch  it  within  and  wiilioid  with  pitch.  Hence,  to  unite,  to 
fill  up  a  breach,  or  leak,  the  word  expressing  both  the  act  viz.  the  bringing 
together  what  had  been  previously  se})arated,  and  the  means,  or  material, 
by  which  the  re-union  is  eftected,  as  in  ovn*  English  verbs,  to  caulk,  to  solder f 
to  poy  or  pay  (from  poix,  pitch),  and  the  French  suiver.  Thence  meta- 
phorically, expiation,  the  piacida  having  the  same  root,  and  being  grounded 
on  another  property  or  use  of  Gums  and  Rosins,  the  supposed  cleansing 
powers  of  their  fumigation.  Numbers  viii.  21 :  "made  atonement  for  the 
Levites  to  cleanse  them." — Lastly,  (or  if  we  are  to  believe  the  Hebrew 
\j&Ti\coT\B,  properly  Qind  moQ\.  frequently)  Ransom,  but  if  by  jaroper  the  In- 
terpreters mean  primauj  and  radical,  the  assertion  does  not  need  a  con- 
fiitation:  all  radicals  belonging  to  one  or  other  of  three  classes.  1.  Inter- 
jections, or  sounds  expressing  sensations  or  passions.  2.  Imitations  of  sounds 
as  splash,  roar,  whiz,  &c.  3.  and  principally,  visual  images,  objects  of 
sight.  But  as  to  frequency,  in  all  the  numerous  (fifty,  I  believe)  instan- 
ces of  the  word  in  the  Old  Testament,  I  have  not  found  one  in  which  it 
can,  or  at  least  need,  be  rendered  by  Ransom:  though  beyond  all  doubt 
Ransom  is  used  in  the  Epistle  to  Timothy,  as  an  equivalent  term. 

[77]  p.  199. 

On  a  subject,  concerning  which  we  have  so  deep  an  interest  in  fonning 
just  and  distinct  conceptions,  no  serious  Inquirer  after  religious  truth ; 
much  less  any  man  dedicated  to  his  pursuit,  and  who  ought  to  be  able  to 
declare  with  tlie  Psalmist,  it  is  "more  desirable  to  me  than  thousands  of 
gold  and  silver :  therefore  do  I  hate  every  false  w  ay ;"  will  blame  my  soli- 
citude to  place  a  notion,  which  I  regard  not  only  as  a  misbelief,  but  as  a 
main  source  of  unbelief— at  all  events,  among  the  most  frequent  and  plau- 
sible pretexts  of  Infidelity — in  all  the  various  points  of  view,  from  which 
this  or  that  Reader  may  more  readily  see,  and  see  into,  its  falsity.  I  make 
therefore  no  apology  for  adding  one  other  illustration  of  the  whimsical 
Logic  by  which  it  is  supported,  in  an  Incident  of  recent  occurrence,  which 
will  at  the  same  time  furnish  an  instance  in  proof  of  the  contrariety  of 
the  Notion  itself  to  the  first  and  most  obvious  principles  of  morahty,  and 
how  spontaneously  Common  Sense  starts  forward,  as  it  Avere,  to  repel  it. 

Let  it  be  imagined,  that  the  late  Mr.  Fauntleroyhad,  in  compliance  with 
the  numerous  petitions  in  his  behalf,  received  a  pardon — that  soon  after 
!«ome  other  Individual  had  been  tried  and  convicted  of  forging  a  note  for 


336  AIDS    TO    RBFLF.OTION. 

a  Hundred  Pound — that  on  application  made  for  the  extension  of  mercy 
to  the  culprit  it  should  be  declared  that  in  a  commercial  country  hke  this 
it  was  contrary'  to  all  Justice  to  grant  a  pardon  to  a  man  convicted  of  For- 
gery— and  that  in  invalidation  of  this  dictum,  the  apphcants  having  quoted, 
as  they  naturally  would  quote,  the  case  of  Mr.  Fauntleroy,  the  Home 
Secretary  should  reply,  yes !  but  Mr.  Fauntleroy  forged  to  the  amount  of 
Two  Hundred  Thousand  Pound  ! — Now  it  is  plain,  that  the  Logic  of  this 
reply  would  remain  the  same,  if  instead  of  comparative  Criminahty  I  had 
supposed  a  case  of  comparative  Purity  from  Crime  :  and  when  the  Reader 
has  settled  with  himself,  what  he  would  think  of  such  Logic,  and  by  what 
name  he  would  describe  it,  let  him  peruse  the  following  extract : 

[Fi'om  Baldiviii's  London  Weekly  Journal,  Saturday  Dec.  4, 1824.] 
MANSION  HOUSE. 

Monsieur  Edmund  Angehni,  Professor  of  the  Languages,  and  la  morale^ 
whose  fracas  with  the  Austrian  Ambassador  was  reported  on  Wednesday, 
came  before  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  presented  his  Lordship  with  a  Petition, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  translation : — 

"My  Lord — He  who  has  violated  the  law  ought  to  perish  by  the  sword 
of  justice.  Monsieur  Fauntleroy  ought  to  perish  by  the  sword  of  justice. 
If  another  takes  his  place,  I  think  that  justice  ought  to  be  satisfied.  I 
devote  myself  for  him.  I  take  upon  myself  his  crime,  and  I  wish  to 
die  to  save  him. 

(Signed)  Edmund  Angelini, 

18  Ossulston-street,  Somers-town.  of  A^'enice." 

The  Lord  Mayor  expressed  hia  surprise  at  the  application ;  and  Mr. 
Angelini  was  uiformed  that  it  was  conti'ary  to  all  justice  that  the  life  of  an 
innocent  person  should  be  taken  to  save  that  of  one  who  was  guilty,  even 
if  an  innocent  man  chose  to  devote  himself. 

Angelini  exclaimed  that  our  Saviour  died  as  an  atonement  for  the  sins 
of  the  guilty,  and  that  he  did  not  see  why  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  do 
so. 

But  in  answer  to  this,  doubt«!  wore  expressed  whether  Monsieur  Angeli- 
ni was  sufficiently  pure  to  satisfy  justice. 

•H-  •X-  -X-  %  -Jfr  * 

The  Reader  is  now,  I  trust,  convinced,  that  though  the  Case  put  by  me, 
introductory  to  this  extract,  was  imaginary",  the  Logic  was  not  of  my  in- 
vention. It  is  contnm/  to  all  Justice,  that  an  innocent  y?er50?i  shoidd  be  sac- 
rificed,  ^'c.  ^r. ;  hut  a  person  AiiTOGETHER  innocent — Aye  !  that  is  a  differ- 
ent question !  , 

[78]  p.  205. 
Which  it  could   not  be,    in  rpspcct  of  spiritual  truths  and  objectR  super- 


NOTE«.  387 

sensuous,  if  it  were  the  same  with,  and  merely  another  name  for, "  the  Fa- 
culty judging  according  to  Sense" — i.  e.  the  Understanding,  or  (as  Taylor 
most  often  calls  it  in  distinction  from  Reason)  Discourse  {Discursus  seu  Fa- 
cultas  discursiva  vel  discursona).  N.  B.  The  Reason,  so  instructed  and  so 
actuated  as  Taylor  requires  in  the  sentences  immediately  following,  is  what 
T  have  called  the  Spirit    Vide  p.  137—138. 

[79]  p.  212. 

I  trust,  that  my  ^ge  will  exempt  me  fi'om  the  charge  of  presumption, 
when  I  avow,  that  the  forty  lines  here  following  are  retained  as  a  speci- 
men of  accumvlatwe  reason,  and  as  an  Exercise,  on  which  my  supposed 
Pupil  may  try  and  practice  the  power  of  sustaining  the  attention  up  the 
whole  ascent  of  a  "piled  Argimient."  The  most  magnificent  Example  of 
a  Sorites  in  our — ^perhaps  in  any — Language,  the  Reader  may  find  in  tlie 
Friend,  vol,  ii.  p.  157,  transcribed  from  J.  Taylor's  Dissuasive  from  Po- 
pery. 

[80]  p.  214. 

I  say,  all :  for  the  accounts  of  one  or  two  travelhng  French  PhilosopheSj 
professed  Atheists  and  Partizans  of  Infidelity,  respecting  one  or  two  Afi*!- 
can  Hordes,  Caffi-es  and  poor  outlawed  Boschmen  hunted  out  of  their  hu- 
manity, ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  exceptions.  And  as  to  Heame's  As- 
sertion respecting  the  non-existence  and  rejection  of  the  Belief  among  the 
Copper-Indians,  it  is  not  only  hazarded  on  veiy  weak  and  insufiicient 
grounds,  but  he  himself,  in  another  part  of  his  work,  unconsciously  sup- 
plies data,  from  whence  the  contraiy  may  safely  be  concluded.  Hearne 
perhaps,  put  down  his  friend  Motannabbi's  i^orf-philosophy  for  the  opinion 
of  his  tribe  ;  and  from  his  high  appreciation  of  the  moral  character  of  this 
murderous  Gymnosophist  it  might,  I  fear,  be  inferred,  that  Hearne  himself 
was  not  the  very  person  one  would,  of  all  others,  have  chosen  for  the  pur- 
pose of  instituting  the  inquiry. 

[81]  p.  216. 

The  case  here  supposed  actually  occurred  in  my  own  experience  in  the 
person  of  a  Spanish  Refugee,  of  English  Parents,  but  from  his  tenth  year 
resident  in  Spain,  and  bred  in  a  family  of  wealthy  but  ignorant  and  bigot- 
ted  Catholics.  In  mature  manhood  he  returned  to  England,  disgusted 
with  the  conduct  of  the  Priests  and  Monks,  which  had  indeed  for  some 
years  produced  on  his  mind  its  so  conmion  effect  among  the  better  infor- 
med Natives  of  the  South  of  Europe — a  tendency  to  Deism.  The  results, 
however,  of  the  infidel  system  in  France,  with  his  opportunities  of  ob- 
serving the  eflTccts  of  in-eligion  on  the  French  ofiicers  in  Spain,  on  the  one 
hand  ;  and  the  undeniable  moral  and  intellectual  superiority  of  Protestan 

43 


338  AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 

Britain  on  the  other ;  had  not  been  lost  on  him :  and  here  he  began  to 
think  for  himself  and  resolved  to  study  the  subject.  He  had  gone  through 
Bishop  Warburton's  Divine  Legation,  and  Paley's  Evidences  ;  but  had  ne- 
ver read  the  New  Testament  consecutively,  and  the  epistles  not  at  all. 

[82]  p.  218. 

By  certain  biblical  Philologists  of  the  Teutonic  School  (Men  distinguish- 
ed by  Learning,  but  still  more  characteristically  by  hardihood  in  conjecture, 
and  who  suppose  the  Gospels  to  have  undergone  several  successive  re- 
visions and  erdargements  by,  or  under  the  authority  of,  the  sacred  Histori- 
ans) these  words  are  contended  to  have  been,  in  the  first  delivery,  the  com- 
mon commencement  of  all  the  Gospels  ■'fccra  aaf/.a  (i.  e.  according  to  the 
Flesh)  in  distinction  fi'om  St.  John's,  or  the  Gospel  yMTa  nvetuu{i.  e.  accord- 
ing to  the  Spirit). — Editor. 

[83]  p.  222. 

That  every  the  least  permissible  form  and  ordinance,  which  at  different 
times  it  might  be  expedient  for  the  Church  to  enact,  are  pre-enacted  intlie 
New  Testament ;  and  that  whatever  is  not  to  be  found  there,  ought  to  be 
allowed  no  ivhere — tliis  has  been  asseiied.  But  that  it  has  been  proved ;  or 
even  rendered  plan  sible  ;  or  that  the  Tenet  is  not  to  be  placed  among  the 
revidsionary  Results  of  the  scripture-slighting  Will- worship  of  the  Romish 
Church  ;  it  will  be  more  sincere  to  say,  I  disbeheve,  than  that  I  doubt.  It 
was  chiefly  if  not  exclusively  in  reference  to  the  extravagances  built  on 
this  tenet,  that  the  great  Selden  ventured  to  declare,  that  the  words  Scru- 
tamini  Scripturas,  had  set  the  world  in  an  uproar. 

N.  B.  Extremes  appear  to  generate  each  other  ;  but  if  we  look  steadily, 
there  will  most  often  be  found  some  common  eiTor,  that  produces  both  as 
its  Positive  and  Negative  Poles,  Thus  Superstitions  go  by  Pairs,  like  the 
two  Hungarian  Sisters,  always  quarrelhng  and  inveteraiely  averse,  but  yet 
joined  at  the  Trunk. 

[84]  p.  222. 
More  than  this  we  do  not  consider  as  necessary  for  our  argument. 
And  as  to  Robinson's  assertions,  in  his  History  of  Baptism,  that  infant 
Baptism  did  not  commence  till  the  time  of  Cyprian,  who,  condemning 
it  as  a  general  practice,  allowed  it  in  particular  cases  by  a  dispensation 
of  Charity ;  and  that  it  did  not  actually  become  the  ordinary  rule  of 
the  Church,  till  Augustin,  in  the  fever  of  his  anti-pelagian  Dispute,  had 
introduced  the  Calvinistic  interpretation  of  Original  Sin,  and  the  dire  state 
of  infants'  dying  unbaptized — I  am  so  far  from  acceding  to  them,  that  I 
reject  the  whole  statement  as  rash,  and  not  only  unwarranted  by  the  Au- 
thorities he  cites,  but  unanswerably  confuted  by  Baxter,  Wall,  and  many 
other  learned  Pccdo-baptists  before  and  since  the  publication  of  his  Work. 


NOTES.  339 

I  confine  myself  to  tiie  assertion — not  that  infant  Ba})tism  was  not ;  but — 
that  there  exist  no  sufficient  proofs  that  it  was,  the  practice  of  the  Apos- 
toUc  Age. 

[85J  p.  224. 

Let  me  be  permitted  to  repeat  and  apply  JVbte  52.  Superstition  may  be 
defined  as  5'Mjoerstantium  (cujusmodi  sunt  Cserimonise  et  Signa  externa, 
quffi,  nisi  in  significando,  nihih  sunt  et  psene  nihil)  ASuftstantiatio. 

[86]  p.  230. 

Conference  between  two  men  that  had  doubts  of  infant  Baptism.  By 
W.  Wall,  Author  of  the  Hist,  of  Inf.  Bapt.  and  Vicar  of  Shoreham  in  Kent, 
A  very  sensible  little  tract,  and  written  in  an  excellent  spirit :  though  it 
failed,  I  confess,  in  satisfying  my  mind  as  to  the  existence  of  any  decisive 
proofs  or  documents  of  Infant  Baptism  having  been  an  Ai)ostohc  Usage, 
or  specially  intended  in  any  part  of  the  New  Testament  :  though  deduci- 
ble  generally  from  many  passages,  and  in  perfect  accordance  witli  the  spvit 
of  the  whole. 

P.  S.  A  mighty  Wrestler  in  the  cause  of  Spiritual  Religion  and  Gospel 
Morality,  in  whom  more  than  in  any  other  Contemporary  I  seem  to  see 
the  Spirit  of  Luther  revived,  expressed  to  me  his  doubts  whether  we 
have  a  right  to  deny  that  an  infant  is  capable  of  spiritual  influence.  To 
such  a  man  I  could  not  feel  justified  in  returning  aji  answer  extempore,  or 
>vithout  having  first  submitted  my  convictions  to  a  fresh  revisal.  I  owe 
him,  however,  a  deliberate  answer ;  and  take  this  opportunity  of  discharg- 
ing the  debt. 

The  Objection  supposes  and  assumes  the  very  point  which  is  denied,  or 
at  least  disputed — A'iz.  that  Infant-baptism  is  specially  injoined  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. If  an  express  passage  to  this  pin-port  had  existed  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, the  other  passages,  which  evidently  imply  a  spkitual  operation  un- 
der the  condition  of  a  preceding  spiritual  act  on  the  part  of  the  person 
baptized,  remaining  as  now — then  indeed,  as  the  only  way  of  removing  the 
apparent  contradiction,  it  might  be  allowable  to  call  on  the  Anti-paedo- bap- 
tist to  prove  the  negative — namely,  that  an  mfant  a  week  old  is  not  a  sub- 
ject capable  or  susceptible  of  spiritual  agency. — xA.nd  vice  versa,  should  it 
be  made  known  to  us,  that  infants  are  not  without  reflection  and  self-con- 
sciousness— then,  doubtless,  we  should  be  entitled  to  infer  that  they  were 
capable  of  a  spiritual  operation,  and  consequently  of  that  which  is  signi- 
fied in  the  baptismal  rite  administered  to  Adults.  But  what  does  this  prove 
for  those,  who  (as  DD.  Mant  and  D'Oyley)  not  only  cannot  show,  but  who 
do  not  themselves  profess  to  believe,  the  sell-consciousness  of  a  New-bom 
Babe  ;  but  who  rest  the  defence  of  Infant-baptism  on  the  assertion,  that 
God  was  pleased  to  aflix  the  performance  of  this  rite  to  his  oflTer  of  Salva- 
ion,  as  the  indispensable,  though  arbitrary,  condition  of  the  infant's  salva- 


340  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

bility  ? — As  Kings  in  former  ages,  wlien  they  conferred  Lands  in  perpetu- 
ity, would  sometimes,  as  the  condition  of  the  Tenure,  exact  from  the  Be- 
neficiary a  hawk,  or  some  trifling  ceremony,  as  the  putting  on  or  off' of 
their  Sandals,  or  whatever  else  royal  caprice  or  the  whim  of  the  moment 
ji  light  suggest.  But  t/ow,  honored  Irving,  are  as  little  disposed,  as  myselli 
to  favor  such  doctrine  ! 

Friend  pure  of  heart  and  fervent '  we  have  learnt 
A  different  lore!  We  may  not  thus  profane 
The  Idea  and  name  of  Him  whose  absolute  Will 
Is  Reason — Truth  Supreme  ! — Essential  Order ! 

-^    [87]  p.  235. 

Of  which  our  he  was  made  Jiesh,  is  perhaps  the  best,  that  our  language 
admits,  but  is  still  an  inadequate  translation.  See  note  9.  The  Church  of 
England  in  this  as  in  other  doctrinal  points,  has  preserved  the  golden  mean 
between  the  superstitious  reverence  of  the  Romanists,  and  the  avowed 
contempt  of  the  Sectarians,  for  the  Writings  of  the  Fathers,  and  the  au- 
thority and  unimpeached  traditions  of  the  Church  during  the  first  three  or 
four  Centuries.  And  how,  consistently  with  this  honorable  characteristic 
of  our  Church,  a  Minister  of  the  same  could,  on  the  sacramentary  scheme 
now  in  fashion,  return  even  a  plausible  answer  to  Arnauld's  great  Work 
on  Transubstantiation,  (not  without  reason  the  Boast  of  Catholicism)  ex- 
ceeds my  powers  of  conjecture ! 

[88]  p  157. 

Will  the  Reader  forgive  me  if  I  attempt  at  once  to  illustrate  and  relieve 
the  subject  by  annexing  the  first  stanza  of  the  Poem,  composed  in  the  same 
year  in  which  I  wrote  the  Ancient  Mariner  and  the  first  Book  of  Chris- 
tabel .? 

"Encinctur'd  with  a  twine  of  Leaves,        ^ 
That  leafy  twine  his  only  Dress ! 
A  lovely  Boy  was  plucking  fruits 
In  a  moonlight  wilderness. 
The  Moon  was  bright,  the  air  was  free, 
And  Fruits  and  Flowers  together  grew 
On  many  a  Shrub  and  many  a  Tree  : 
And  all  put  on  a  gentle  hue, 
Hanging  m  tliQ  shadowy  air 
Like  a  Picture  rich  and  rare. 
It  was  a  climate  where,  they  say, 
The  Night  is  more  beloved  than  Day. 
But  who  that  beauteous  Boy  beguil'd, 
That  beauteous  Boy  !  to  linger  here  r 


NOTES.  341 

Aione,  by  night,  a  little  child, 

111  place  so  silent  and  so  wild — 

Has  he  do  friend,  no  loving  mother  near  ?" 

Wanderings  of  Cain,  a  MS.  Poem. 

[89]  p.  243. 

Such  is  the  conception  of  Body  in  Des  Cartes'  own  system.    Body  is 
every  where  confounded  with  Matter,  and  might  in  the  Cartesian  sense 
be  defined,   Space   or  Extension    with    the    attribute   of  VisibiUty.     As 
Des  Cartes   at  the  same  time  zealously  asserted  the  existence  of  intelli- 
gential  Beings,  the  reality  and  independent  Self-subsistence  of  the  Soul, 
Berkleianism  or   Spinosism   was  the   immediate   and    necessaiy   Conse- 
quence.    Assume   a  plurality  of  self-subsistuig  Souls,  and  we  have  Berk- 
leianism ;  assume  one  only,  (unam  et  unicam  Substantiam),  and  you  have 
Spmosism,  i.  e.  the  assertion  of  one  infinite  Self-subsistent,  with  the  two  At- 
tributes of  Thinking  and  Appearing.    "Cogitatio  infinita  sine  centro,  et  om- 
niformis  Apparitio."     How  far  the  Newtonian  Vis  inertise  (interi)reted  any 
othenvise  than  as  an  arbitraiy  termz=x  y  z,  to  represent  the  unknown  but 
necessary  supplement  or  integi'ation  of  the  Cartesian  Notion  of  Body)  has 
patched  up  the  Flaw,  I  leave  for  more  competent  Judges  to  decide.     But 
should  any  one  of  my  Readers  feel  an  interest  in  the  speculative  principles 
of  Natural  Philosophy,  and  should  be  master  of  the  German  Language,  I 
warmly  recommend  for  his  perusal  the  eai'liest  known  publication  of  the 
Great  Founder  of  the  Critical  Philosophy   (written  in  the  twenty-second 
Year  of  his  Age !)  on  the  then  eager  controversy  between  the  Leibnitziaii 
and  the  French  and  English  Mathematicians,  respecting  the  Living  For- 
ces— "Gedanken  von  der  wahren  Schatzung  der  lebendigen  Krafle :  1747" 
— in  which  Kant  demonstrates  the  right  reasoning  to  be  with  the  latter; 
but  the  Truth  of  Fact,  the  evidence  of  experience,  with  the  former ;   and 
gives  the  explanation,  namely :  Body,  or  Coiporeal  Nature,  is  something 
else  and  more  than  geometrical  extension,  even  with  the  addition  of  a  Vis 
inertiae.    And  Leibnitz,  with  the  BernouilHs,  erred  in  the  attempt  to  de- 
monstrate geometrically  a  problem  not  susceptible  of  geometrical  con- 
strtiction. — This  Tract,  with  the  succeeding  Himmels-system,  may  with 
propriety  be  placed,  after  the  Principia  of  Newton,  among  the  striking  in- 
stances of  early  Genius ;   and  as  the  first  product  of  the  Dynamic  Philos- 
ophy in  the  Physical  Sciences,  from  the  time,  at  least,  of  Giordano  Bruno, 
whom  the  Idolaters  burnt  for  an  Atheist,  at  Rome,  in  the  year  ICOO. — See 
the  Friend,  Vol.  1.  p.  193—197. 

[90]  p.  243. 

For  Newton's  own  doubtfully  suggested  Ether  or  inost  subtle  Fluid,  as 
the  ground  and  immediate  Agent  in  the  phaenomena  of  universal  Grav- 
itation, was  either  not  adopted  or  soon  abandoned  by  his  Disciples:  not 


342  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

only  as  introducing,  against  his  own  Canons  of  Right  Reasoning,  an 
Ens  imagiuarium  into  physical  Science,  a  Suf/iction  in  the  place  of  a  le- 
gitimate Suiiposition;  but  because  the  Substance  (assuming  it  to  exist) 
must  itself  form  part  of  the  Problem,  it  was  meant  to  solve.  Meantime 
Leibnitz's  Pre-established  Harmony,  Avhich  originated  in  Spinosa,  found 
no  acceptance ;  and,  lastly,  the  Notion  of  a  corpuscular  Substance,  with 
Properties  put  mto  it,  like  a  Pincushion  hidden  by  the  Pins,  could  pass 
witli  the  unthinking  only  for  any  thing  more  than  a  Confession  of  igno- 
rance, or  technical  terms  expressing  an  hiatus  of  scientific  insight. 


APPENDIX, 


CONTAINING   A 

"SELECTION  FROM  MR.    COLERIDGE'S  LITERARY 
CORRESPONDENCE," 

REPRINTED    FROM 

BLACKWOOD^SMAGAZIIS^E, 

FOR  OCTOBER  1821  ; 

AND    THE 

«  APPENDIX  TO  THE  STATESMAN'S  MANUAL." 


The  expediency  of  inserting  in  tliis  volume  the  articles  which  follow 
may  not  perhai)s  be  very  obvious.  My  motive  for  doing  it,  aside  from  the 
inl)erent  value  of  the  articles  themselves,  is  to  place  before  the  readers  of 
the  Aids  to  Reflection,  as  far  as  I  could  do  so,  the  means  of  clearly  under- 
standing the  language  and  sentiments  of  the  Author  in  that  Work»  In 
regard  to  several  important  points,  I  think  they  will  find  their  views  made 
more  clear  by  reference  to  these,  though  in  themselves  they  may  be  found 
more  difficult  to  understand,  than  the  work  to  which  they  are  appended. 
They  are,  moreover,  several  times  refeiTcd  to  in  the  Aids  to  Reflection, 
and  probably  few  of  the  Readers  of  that  Work  would  have  access  to  them 
elsewhere.  The  third  letter  of  the  "  Selection"  is  omitted,  as  not  particu- 
larly suited  to  the  pui'j)ose  of  this  work.  The  Appendix  to  the  Statesman's 
Manual  is  reprinted  entire.  A  few  sentences  have  reference  to  the  text  of 
that  work,  but  could  not  well  be  omitted.  For  the  most  part  they  may  be 
considered  as  independent  essays  havmg  reference,  as  the  author  elsewhere 
tells  us,  to  the  heights  of  Metaj)hysics  and  Theolog}^,  and  deeply  interest- 
ing to  those,  who  will  reflect  enough  to  understand  them. 


SELECTION 

TROW 

MR.  COLERIDGE'S  LITERARY  CORRESPONDENCE, 

WITH 

FRIENDS  AND  MEN  OF  LETTERS. 


LETTER  I. 

FROM    A    PROFESSIONAL    FRIEND. 

My  Dear  and  Honoured  Sir, — I  was  much  struck  with  your  Excerpta 
from  Porta,  Eckartshausen,  and  others,  as  to  the  effect  of  tlie  ceremonial 
drinks  and  unguents,  on  the  (female)  practitioners  of  tlic  hlack  ails,  whoso 
witchcraft  you  beheve  to  have  consisted  in  the  unhappy  craft  of  bewitch- 
ing themselves.  I,  at  least,  know  of  no  reason,  why  to  these  toxications, 
(especially  when  taken  through  the  skin,  and  to  the  cataleptic  state  indu- 
ced by  them,)  we  should  not  attribute  the  poor  wretches'  own  belief  of 
their  guilt.  I  can  conceive,  indeed,  of  no  other  mode  of  accounting — I 
do  not  say  for  their  suspicious  last  dying  avowals  at  the  stake  ;  but — for 
their  private  and  voluntary  confessions  on  their  death-beds,  which  made 
a  convert  of  your  old  favourite.  Sir  T.  Brown.  Perhaps  my  professional 
pursuits,  and  medical  studies,  may  have  predisposed  me  to  be  interested  ; 
but  my  mind  has  been  in  an  eddy  ever  since  I  left  you.  The  connexions 
of  the  subject,  with  classical  and  ^vith  druidical  superstitions,  pointed  out 
by  you — the  Circeia  pocula — the  herbal  spells  of  the  Haxae,  or  Druidcsses — 
the  somniloquism  of  the  prophetesses,  under  the  coercion  of  the  Scandi- 
navian enchanters — the  dependence  of  the  Greek  oracles  on  mineral  wa- 
ters, and  stupifying  vapours  from  the  earth,  as  stated  l)y  Plutarch,  and  more 
than  once  alluded  to  by  Euiipides — the  vast  spread  of  the  same,  or  similar, 
usages,  from  Greenland  even  to  the  southernmost  point  of  America ; — you 
sent  me  home  with  enough  to  think  of !  But  more  than  all,  I  was  struck 
and  interested  with  your  concluding  remark,  that  these,  and  niost  other 
superstitions,  were,  in  your  belief,  but  the  cadaver  et  putrimenta  of  a 
DEFUNCT  NATURAL  PHILOSOPHY.  Why iiot  ratlicr  the  imperfect  rudiments? 
I  asked.  You  promised  mc  your  reasons,  and  a  fuller  explanation.  But 
let  me  speak  out  my  whole  wish  ;  and  call  on  you  to  redeem  the  pledges 
you  gave,  so  long  back  as  October  1809,  that  you  would  devote  a  series  of 

44 


346  AIDS    TO    REFT.ECTION. 

papers  to  the  subject  of  Dreams,  Visions,  Presentations,  Ghosts,  Witchcraft, 
Cures  by  sympatliy,  in  which  you  would  select  and  explain  the  most  in- 
teresting and  best  attested  facts  that  have  come  to  your  knowledge  from 
books  or  personal  testimony. 

You  can  scarcely  conceive  how  deep  an  mterest  I  attach  to  this  request ; 
nor  how  many,  beside  myself,  in  the  circle  of  my  own  acquaintance  have 
the  same  feeling.  Indeed,  my  dear  Sir !  when  I  reflect,  that  there  is 
scarcely  a  chapter  of  history  in  which  superstition  of  some  kmd  or  other 
does  not  form  or  supply  a  portion  of  its  contents,  I  look  forward,  with  un- 
quiet anticipation,  to  the  power  of  explaining  the  more  frequent  and  best 
attested  narrations,  at  least  without  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  the 
supposition  of  downright  tricks  and  lying,  on  one  side,  or  to  the  devil  and 
his  imps  on  the  other.    *  *  *  * 

Your  obliged  Pupil, 

and  affectionate  Friend, 

J-  L . 

P.  S. — Dr.  L.  of  the  Museum,  is  quite  of  your  opinion,  that  little  or  no- 
thing of  importance  to  the  philosophic  naturfdist  can  result  from  Compar- 
ative Anatomy  on  Cuvier's  plan  ;  and  that  its  best  trophies  will  be  but  life- 
less skeletons,  till  it  is  studied  in  combination  with  a  Comparative  Physi- 
ology. But  you  ought  yourself  to  vindicate  the  priority  of  your  claim. 
But  I  fear,  dear  C,  that  Sic  Vos,  non  VoUs,  was  made  for  your  motto 
throughout  life. 

LETTER  II. 

IN   ANSWER  TO   THE   ABOVE. 

Well,  my  dear  pupil  and  fellow  student !  I  am  willing  to  make  the  at- 
tempt. If  the  majority  of  my  readers  had  but  the  same  personal  knowl- 
edge of  me  as  you  have,  I  should  sit  down  to  the  work  with  good  cheer. 
But  this  is  out  of  the  (piestion.  Let  me,  however,  suppose  you  for  the 
moment,  as  an  average  reader — address  you  as  such,  and  attribute  to  you 

feelings  and  language   in  character. — Do  not  mistake  me,  my  dear  L . 

Not  even  for  a  moment,  nor  under  the  pretext  of  mons  a  non  movendo, 
would  I  contemplate  in  connexion  with  your  name  "  id  genus  lectorum, 
qui  meliores  obtrectare  malint  quam  imitari :  et  quorum  similitudinem  des- 
perent,  eorundem  afFectent  simultatem — scilicet  uti  qui  suo  nomine  obscuri 
sunt,  meo  innotescant."*  The  readers  I  have  in  view,  are  of  that  class 
who  with  a  sincere,  though  not  very  strong  desire,  of  acquiring  knowl- 
edge, have  taken  it  for  granted  that  all  knowledge  of  any  value  respecting 


*The  passage,  which  cannot  fail  to  remind  you  of  H and  his  set, 

is  from  Apuleius'  Lib.  Floridorum — the  two  books  of  which,  by-tlie-bye, 
seem  to  have  been  transcribed  from  his  common-place  book  of  Good 
Things,  happy  phrases,  &c.  that  he  had  not  had  an  opportunity  of  bring- 
ing in  in  his  set  wi'itings. 


APPENDIX.  347 

the  mind,  is  either  to  be  found  in  three  or  four  books,  the  eldest  not  a  hun- 
dred years  old,  or  may  be  conveniently  taught  without  any  other  terms  or 
previous  explanations  than  tliese  works  have  already  rendered  familiar 
among  men  of  education. 

Well,  friendly  reader !  as  the  problem  of  things  Uttle  less  (it  seems  to 
you)  than  impossible,  yet  strongly  and  numerously  attested  by  evidence 
which  it  seems  impossible  to  discredit,  has  interested  you,  I  am  billing  to 
attempt  the  solution.  But  then  it  must  be  under  certain  conditions.  I 
must  be  able  to  hope^  I  must  have  sufficient  grounds  for  hoping,  that  I  shall 
be  understood,  or  rather  that  I  shall  be  allowed  to  make  myself  under- 
stood. And  as  I  am  gifted  with  no  magnetic  power  of  throwing  my  rea- 
der into  the  state  of  clear-seeing  (clairvoyance)  or  luminous  vision ;  as  I 
have  not  the  secret  of  enabling  him  to  read  with  the  pit  of  his  stomach, 
or  with  his  finger-ends,  nor  of  calling  into  act  "  the  cuticular  faculty,"  dor- 
mant at  tlie  tip  of  his  nose ;  but  must  rely  on  words — I  cannot  form  the 
hope  rationally,  unless  the  reader  will  have  patience  enough  to  master  the 
sense  in  which  I  use  them. 

Bid  why  employ  words  that  need  explanation  ?  And  might  I  not  ask  in  my 
turn,  would  you,  gentle  reader,  put  the  same  question  to  Sir  Edward  Smith, 
or  any  other  member  of  the  Linnsean  Society  to  whom  you  had  applied  for 
instruction  in  Botany  ?  And  yet  he  would  require  of  you  that  you  should 
attend  to  a  score  of  technical  terms,  and  make  yourself  master  of  the 
sense  of  each,  in  order  to  your  understanding  the  distinctive  character  of 
a  gi*ass,  a  mushroom,  and  a  lichen  !  Now  the  psychologist,  or  speculative 
philosopher,  will  be  content  with  you,  if  you  will  impose  on  yourself  the 
trouble  of  understanding  and  remembering  one  of  the  number  in  order  to 
understand  your  own  nature.  But  I  will  meet  your  question  direct.  You 
ask  me  why  I  use  ivords  that  need  explanation^  Because  (I  reply)  on  this 
subject  there  are  no  others!  Because  the  darkness  and  the  main  difficul- 
ties that  attend  it,  are  owing  to  the  vagueness  and  ambiguity  of  the  words 
in  common  use ;  and  which  preclude  all  explanation  for  him  who  had  re- 
solved that  none  is  required.  Because  there  is  already  a  falsity  in  the  very 
phrases,  "  words  in  common  use ;"  "  the  language  of  common  sense."  Words 
of  most  frequent  use  they  may  be,  common  they  are  not ;  but  the  language 
of  the  market,  and  as  such,  exi)ressing  degrees  only,  and  therefore  incom- 
petent to  the  purpose  wherever  it  becomes  necessary  to  designate  the  kind 
independent  of  all  degree.  The  philosopher  may,  and  often  does,  employ 
the  same  words  as  in  the  market ;  but  does  this  supersede  the  necessity  of 
a  previous  explanation  ?  As  I  referred  you  before  to  the  Botanist,  so  now 
to  the  Chemist.  Light,  heat,  charcoal,  are  every  man's  words.  But  Jixed 
or  invisible  light  ?  The  frozen  heat  ?  Charcoal  in  its  simplest  form,  as 
diamond,  or  as  black-lead  ?  Will  a  stranger  to  chemistry  be  worse  oft', 
would  the  Chemist's  language  be  less  likely  to  be  understood  by  his  usmg 
difterent  words  for  distinct  meanings,  as  carbon,  caloric,  and  the  like  ? 


348  AIDS    TO    REFLpCTION. 

But  the  case  is  Btill  stronger.  The  chemist  is  compelled  to  make  words, 
in  order  to  prevent  or  remove  some  error  connected  with  tJie  common 
word  ;  and  this  too  an  error,  the  continuance  of  which  was  incompatible 
with  the  first  principles  and  elementary  truths  of  the  science  he  is  to  teach. 
You  must  submit  to  regard  yourself  ignorant  even  of  the  words,  air  and  wa- 
ter ;  and  will  fmd,  that  they  are  not  chemicaliy  intelligible  without  the  terms, 
oxygen,  nitrogen,  hydrogen,  or  others  equivalent.  Now  it  is  even  so  with  the 
knowledge,  which  you  woidd  have  me  to  communicate.  There  are  cer- 
tain prejudices  of  the  common,  L  e.  of  the  average  sense  of  men,  the  ex- 
posure of  which  is  the  first  step,  the  indispensable  preliminary,  of  all  ra- 
tional ])sychology  :  and  these  cannot  be  exposed  but  by  selecting  and  ad- 
Iiering  to  some  one  word,  in  which  we  may  bo  able  to  trace  the  growth 
and  modifications  of  the  oi)inion  or  belief  conveyed  in  this,  or  similar 
words,  not  by  any  revolution  or  positive  change  of  the  original  sense,  but 
by  the  transfer  of  this  sense  and  tlie  diflferenco  in  the  ap})lication. 

Whero  there  is  but  one  word  for  two  or  more  diverse  or  disparate 
meanings  in  a  language,  (or  tliough  ther*.'  should  be  several,  yet  if  perfect 
synonyimes,  they  count  but  for  one  word,)  the  language  is  so  far  defective. 
And  this  is  q  defect  of  frequent  occurrence  in  all  languages,  prior  to  the 
cultivation  of  science,  logic  and  philology,  especially  of  the  two  latter  : 
and  among  q  free,  lively,  and  ingenious  people,  such  as  the  Greeks  were, 
sophistry  and  the  influence  of  sophists  are  the  inevitable  result.  To  check 
tliis  evil  by  striking  at  its  root  in  the  ambiguity  of  words,  Plato  wrote  tho 
greater  part  of  his  published  works,  which  do  not  so  much  contain  his 
own  system  of  philosophy,  as  the  negative  conditions  of  reasonmg  aright 
on  any  system.  And  yet  more  obviously  is  it  the  case  with  the  Metaphys- 
ics, Analytics,  «fec.  of  Aristotle,  which  have  been  well  described  by  Lam- 
bert as  a  dictionary  of  general  terms,  the  process  throughout  being,  first, 
to  discover  and  establish  definite  meanings,  and  then  to  ai)propriate  to  each 
a  several  word.  The  sciences  will  take  care,  each  of  its  own  nomencla- 
ture :  but  the  interests  of  the  language  at  large  fall  under  the  special  guar- 
dianshi})  of  logic  and  rational  psychology.  Where  these  have  fallen  into 
neglect  or  disrepute,  from  exclusive  pursuit  of  wealth,  excess  of  the  com- 
mercial spirit,  or  whatever  other  cause  disposes  men  in  general  to  attach 
an  exclusive  value  to  immediate  and  palpable  utiUty,  the  dictionary  may 
swell,  but  the  language  will  decline.  Few  arc  the  books  published  within 
the  last  fifty  years,  that  would  not  supply  their  quota  of  proofs,  that  so  it 
is  with  our  own  mother  English.  The  bricks  and  stones  are  in  abmid- 
ance,  but  the  cement  none  or  naught.  That  which  is  indeed  the  common 
language  exists  eveiy  where  as  the  menstruum,  and  nowhere  as  the  whole 

See  Biogi'aphia  lAteraria — while  the  language  complimented  with  this 

name,  is,  as  1  have  already  said,  in  fact  the  language  of  the  market.  Eve- 
rv  science,  every  trade,  has  its  technical  nomenclature  ;  every  folly  has  its 
fancy  words ;  every  vice  its  own  slang— and  is  the  science  of  humanity  to 


APPENDIX.  349 

be  the  one  exception  ?  Is  philosophy  to  work  without  tools  ?  to  have  no 
straw  wherewitli  to  make  the  bricks  for  her  mansion-house  but  what  she 
may  pick  up  on  the  high  road,  or  steal,  with  all  its  impurities  and  sophis- 
tications, from  the  htter  of  the  cattle  market  ? 

For  the  present,  however,  my  demands  on  your  patience  are  very  limit- 
ed.— If  as  the  price  of  much  entertainment  to  follow,  and  I  trust  of 
something  besides  of  less  transitory  interest,  you  will  fairly  attend  to  the 
history  of  it<)o  scholastic  terms,  object  and  subject,  with  their  derivatives ; 
you  shall  have  my  promise  that  I  will  not  on  any  future  occasion  ask  you 
to  be  attentive,  without  trying  not  to  bo  myself  dull.  That  it  may  cost 
you  no  more  trouble  than  necessary,  I  have  brought  it  under  the  eye  in 
numbered  paragraj)hs,  with  scholia  or  commentary  to  such  as  seemed  to 
require  iL 

Yours  most  affectionately, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

On  the  Philosophic  import  of  the  Words  Object  and  Subject. 

§  1. 
Existence  Is  a  simple  intuition,  underived  and  indecomponible.  It  is  no 
idea^  no  particular  form,  much  less  any  determination  or  modification  of 
the  i)Ossible :  it  is  nothing  that  can  be  educed  from  the  logical  concei)tion 
of  a  tiling,  as  its  predicate :  it  is  no  propeiiy  of  a  thing,  but  its  reahty  itself; 
or  as  the  Latin  would  more  conveniently  express  it — NuUa  rei  proprietor 
est,  sed  ipsa  ejus  realitas. 

SCHOLIUM. 

Herein  lies  the  so})liism  in  Dcs  Cartes'  celebrated  demonstration  of  the 
existence  of  the  Supreme  Being  from  the  idea.  In  the  idea  of  God  are 
contained  all  attributes  that  belong  to  the  perfection  of  a  being :  but  exist- 
ence is  such :  therefore  God's  existence  is  contained  in  the  idea  of  God. 
To  this  it  is  a  sufficient  answer,  that  existence  is  not  an  attribute.  It  might 
be  shown  too,  from  the  barrenness  of  the  demonstration,  by  identifying  the 
deduction  with  the  premise,  i.  e.  for  reducing  the  minor  or  term  included 
to  a  mere  repetition  of  the  major  term  including.  For  in  fact  the  syllogism 
ought  to  stand  thus :  the  idea  of  God  comprises  the  idea  of  all  attributes 
that  belong  to  perfection  ;  but  the  idea  of  existence  is  such  :  therefore  the 
idea  of  his  existence  is  included  in  the  idea  of  God.  Now,  existence  is 
no  idea,  but  a  fact :  or,  though  we  had  an  idea  of  existence,  still  the  proof 
of  its  correspondence  to  a  reality  would  be  wanting,  i.  e.  the  very  point 
would  be  wanting  which  it  was  the  i)urpose  of  the  demonstration  to  sup- 
ply. Still  the  idea  of  the  fact  is  not  the  fact  itself  Besides,  the  term  idea, 
is  here  improperly  substituted  for  the  mere  supposition  of  a  logical  subject, 
necessarily  presumed  in  ortler  to  the  conceivableness  [cogitahilitas)  of  any 
qualities,   properties,  or  uttribiitCij.     But  this  is   a  mere  ens   logicum,  (vel 


350  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ctiani  grammaticiim),  the  result  of  the  thinker's  own  unity  of  consciousness 
and  no  less  contained  in  the  conception  of  a  plant  or  of  a  chimera,  than 
in  the  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being.  If  Des  Cartes  could  have  proved,  that 
his  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being  is  universal  and  necessaiy,  and  that  the  con- 
viction of  a  reality  perfectly  coincident  with  the  idea  is  equally  universal 
and  inevitable  ;  and  that  these  were  in  truth  but  one  and  the  same  act  or 
intuition,  unique,  and  without  analogy,  though,  from  the  inadequateness  of 
our  minds,  from  the  mechanism  of  thought,  and  the  structure  of  language 
we  are  compelled  to  express  it  dividually,  as  consisting  of  two  coiTclative 
terms, — this  would  have  been  something.  But  then  it  must  be  entitled  a 
statement,  not  a  demonstration — the  necessity  of  which  it  would  supersede. 
And  something  like  this  may  perhaps  be  found  true,  where  the  reasoning 
powers  are  developed  and  duly  exerted  ;  but  would,  I  fear,  do  little  to- 
wards settling  the  dispute  between  the  religious  Theist  and  the  speculative 
Atheist  or  Pantheist,  whether  this  be  all,  or  whether  it  is  even  ivfiai  we 
mean,  and  are  bound  to  mean,  by  the  word  God.  The  old  controversy 
would  be  started,  what  are  the  possible  perfections  of  an  Infinite  Being — 
in  other  words,  what  the  legitimate  sense  is  of  the  term,  infinite,  as  appli- 
ed to  Deity,  and  what  is  or  is  not  compatible  with  that  sense. 

§2. 
I  think,  and  while  thinking,  I  am  conscious  of  certain  workings  or  move- 
ments, as  acts  or  activities  of  my  being,  and  feel  myself  as  the  power  in 
which  they. originate.  I  feel  myself  working ;  and  the  sense  or  feeling  of 
this  activity  constitutes  the  sense  and  feehng  of  existence,  i  e.  of  my  ac- 
tual being. 

SCHOLIUM. 

Movements,  motions,  taken  metaphorically,  without  relation  to  space  or 

place.       KtriiOsii  fit]  xara  ronor]  ui  aa.rip  xatiOng,  of  Aristotle. 

§3. 
In  these  workings,  however,  I  distinguish  a  difference.  In  some  I  feel 
myself  as  the  cause  and  proper  agent,  and  the  movements  themselves  as 
the  work  of  my  own  power.  In  others,  I  feel  these  movements  as  my 
own  activity ;  but  not  as  my  own  acts.  The  first  we  call  the  active  or 
positive  state  of  our  existence  ;  the  second,  the  passive  or  negative  state. 
The  active  power,  nevertheless,  is  felt  in  both  equally.  But  in  the  first  I 
feel  it  as  the  cause  acting,  in  the  second,  as  the  condition,  without  which  I 
could  not  be  acted  on. 

SCHOLIUM. 

It  is  a  truth  of  highest  im})orttmce,  tliat  agcre  et  pati  are  not  diflferent 
kinds,  but  the  same  kind  in  dilferent  relations.  Antl  this  not  only  hi  con- 
sequence of  an  inmicdiate  reaction,  but  the  act  of  receiving  is  no  less  truly 


APPENDIX.  351 

°n  act,  than  the  act  of  influencing.  Thus,  the  hmgs  act  in  being  stimula- 
ted by  the  air,  as  truly  as  in  the  act  of  breathing,  to  which  they  were  stim- 
ulated. The  Greek  verbal  termination,  «>,  happily  illustrates  this.  y7ou-», 
TrpaTTtt),  nanxo},  in  philosophical  giammar,  are  all  three  verbs  active ;  but 
the  first  is  the  active-iran^t^we,  in  which  the  agency  passes  forth  out  of  the 
agent  into  another.  Tt  rrouic ;  what  are  you  dohig?  The  second  is  the 
active  intrans^itive.  Ti  npamig ;  how  do  you  do?  or  how  are  you?  The 
third  is  the  active-passive,  or  more  appropriately  the  active-patient,  the  verb 
recipient  or  receptive,  n  naa;(ttg  •  what  ails  you  ?  Or,  to  take  another  idiom 
of  our  language,  that  most  livelily  expresses  the  co-presence  of  an  agent, 
an  agency  distinct  and  alien  from  our  own.  What  is  the  matter  icith  you  ? 
It  would  carry  us  too  far  to  explain  the  nature  of  verbs  passive,  as  so  called 
in  technical  grammar.  Suffice,  that  this  class  originated  in  the  same  cau- 
ses, as  led  men  to  make  the  division  of  substances  into  living  and  dead — 
a  division  psychologically  necessary,  but  of  doubtful  philosophical  validity. 

§4. 
With  the  workings  and  movements,  which  I  refer  to  myself  and  my  own 
agency,  there  alternate — say,  rather,  I  find  myself  alternately  conscious  of 
forms  (z=Impressions,  images,  or  better  or  less  figurative  and  hypothetical, 
presences,  presentations,)  and  of  states  or  modes,  which  not  feeling  as  the 
work  or  effect  of  my  own  power,  I  refer  to  a  power  other  than  me,  i.  e. 
(in  the  language  derived  from  my  sense  of  sight)  without  me.  And  this  is 
the  feeling  I  have  of  the  existence  of  outward  things. 

SCHOLIUM. 
In  this  superinduction  of  the  sense  of  outness  on  the  feeling  of  the  actual 
arises  our  notion  of  the  real  and  reality.  But  as  I  cannot  but  reflect,  that 
as  tlie  other  is  to  me,  so  I  must  be  to  the  other,  the  terms  real  antl  actual, 
soon  become  confounded  and  interchangeable,  or  only  discriminated  in 
the  gold  scales  of  metaphysics. 

§5. 
Since  both,  then,  the  feeling  of  my  own  existence  and  the  feeling  of  the 
existence  of  things  without,  are  but  this  sense  of  an  acting  and  working — 
it  is  clear  that  to  exist  is  the  same  as  to  act  or  work  ;  (Quantum  operor, 
tantum  sum,)  that  whatever  exists,  works,  (=is  in  action ;  actually  is  ;  is 
indeed,)  that  not  to  work,  as  agent  or  patient,  is  not  to  exist ;  and  lastly, 
that  patience  (=:vis  patiendi,)  and  the  reaction  that  is  its  co-instantaneous 
consequent,  is  the  same  activity  in  opposite  and  alternating  relations. 

§6. 

That  which  is  iiiferred  in  those  acts  and  workings,  the  feeling  of  which 

is  one  with  the  feeling  of  our  own  existence,  or  inferred  from  those  which 

we  refer  to  an  agency  distinct  from  our  own,  but  in  both  instances  is  itifer- 

red,  is  the  subject,  i,  e.  that  which  does  not  appear,  but  lies  under  (quod 

jacet  subter)  the  appearance. 


352  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

§7. 

But  in  the  first  instance,  that,  namely,  which  is  inferred  in  its  effects, 
and  of  course  therefore  5cZ/'-inferred,  tlio  subject  is  a  mind,  *.  e,  that  which 
knoivs  itself,  and  may  be  inferred  by  others ;  but  which  cannot  appear. 

§  8. 

That,  in  or  from  which  the  subject  is  inferred,  is  the  object,  id  quod 
jacet  oh  oculos,  that  which  lies  before  us,   that  which  lies  strait  opposite. 

SCHOLIUM. 

The  terms  used  in  psychology,  logic,  &c.  even  those  of  most  frequent 
occurrence  in  common  life,  are,  for  the  most  part,  of  Latin  derivation  ; 
and  not  only  so,  but  the  original  words,  such  as  quantity,  quality,  subject, 
object,  &c.  &c.  formed  in  the  schools  of  philosophy  for  scholastic  use,  and 
in  correspondence  to  Greek  technical  terms  of  the  same  meaning.  Ety- 
molog}-^,  therefore,  is  little  else  tlian  indispensable  to  an  insight  into  the 
true  force,  and  as  it  were,  freshness  of  the  words  in  question,  especially  of 
those  that  have  passed  from  the  schools  into  the  market-place,  fi-om  the 
medals  and  tokens  [ovufiolu)  of  the  philosophers'  guilder  company  into  the 
current  coin  of  the  land.  But  the  difference  between  a  man  who  under- 
stands them  according  to  their  first  use,  and  seeks  to  restore  the  original 
impress  and  superscription,  and  the  man  who  gives  and  takes  them  in 
small  charige,  unweighed,  and  tried  only  by  the  sound,  may  be  illustrated 
by  imagining  the  different  points  of  view  in  which  the  same  cowi-y  would 
appear  to  a  scientific  conchologist,  and  to  a  chaffering  negro.  This  use  of 
etymology  may  be  exemplified  in  the  present  case.  The  immediate  ob- 
ject of  the  mind  is  always  and  exclusively  the  workings  or  makings  above 
stated  and  distinguished  into  two  kinds,  §  2,  3,  and  4.  Where  the  object 
consists  of  the  first  kind,  in  which  the  subject  infers  its  own  existence,  and 
which  it  refers  to  its  own  agency,  and  identifies  with  itself,  (feels  and 
contemplates  as  one  with  itself,  and  as  itself),  and  yet  without  confounding 
the  inherent  distinction  between  subject  and  object,  the  subject  witnesses 
to  itself  that  it  is  a  mind^  t.  e.  a  subject-object,  or  subject  that  becomes 
an  object  to  itself. 

But  wliere  the  workings  or  makings  of  the  second  sort  are  the  ol^ject, 
from  objects  of  this  sort  we  always  infer  the  existence  of  a  subject,  as  in 
the  former  case.  But  wc  infer  it  from  them,  rather  than  in  them  ;  or,  to 
express  the  point  yet  more  clearly,  we  infer  two  subjects.  In  the  object, 
we  infer  our  own  existence  and  sxihjedi'vity ;  from  them  the  existence  of  a 
subject,  not  our  own,  and  to  this  we  refer  theoliject,  as  to  its  proper  cause 
and  agent.  Again,  we  always  infer  a  correspondent  mihject  ;■  but  not  al- 
ways a  mind.  Whether  we  consider  lliis  other  subject  as  another  mind,  is 
determined  by  the  more  or  less  a^inlogy  of  the  objects  or  makings  of  ihc 
second  class  to  those  of  tlie  first,  and  not  seldom  depends  on  the  valuing 
<fegrecs  of  our  attention  and  previous  knowledge. 


APPENDIX.  353 

Add  to  these  differences  the  modifying  influence  of  the  senses,  the  sense 
of  sight  more  paiticulaily,  inconsequence  of  which  this  suhiect  other  than 
we,  is  presented  as  a  subject  out  of  us.  With  tlie  sensuous  vividness  con- 
nected witl],  and  which  in  part  constitutes,  this  outness  or  outwardness, 
contrast  the  exceeding  obscurity  and  dimness  in  the  conception  of  a  sub- 
ject not  a  mind ;  and  reflect  too,  that,  to  objects  of  the  Jirst  kind,  we  can- 
not attribute  actual  or  separative  outwardness ;  while,  in  cases  of  the  sec- 
ond kind,  we  are,  after  a  shorter  or  longer  time,  compelled  by  the  law  of 
association  to  transfer  this  outness  fi-om  the  hifcn'ed  subject  to  the  present 
object.  Lastly,  reflect  that,  in  the  former  instance,  the  object  is  identified 
with  the  subject,  both  positively  by  the  act  of  the  subject,  and  negatively 
\y^  unsusceptibihty  of  outness  in  the  object:  and  that  in  the  latter  the  very 
contraiy  takes  place :  namely,  instead  of  the  object  being  identified  with 
the  subject,  the  subject  is  taken  up  and  confounded  in  the  object.  In  the 
ordinary  and  unreflecting  states,  therefore,  of  men's  minds,  it  could  not  be 
othei'wdse,  but  that,  in  the  one  instance,  the  object  must  be  lost,  and  indis- 
tinguishable in  the  subject ;  and  that  in  the  other,  the  subject  is  lost  and 
forgotten  in  the  object,  to  which  a  necessary  illusion  had  already  transferred 
that  outness,  which,  in  its  origin,  and  in  right  of  reason,  belongs  exclusive- 
ly to  the  subject,  i.  e.the  agent  ah  extra  inferred  from  the  object.  For  out- 
ness is  but  the  feeling  of  otherness,  (alterity)  rendered  intuitive,  or  alterity 
visually  represented.  Hence,  and  also  because  we  find  this  outness  and 
the  objects,  to  which,  though  they  are,  in  fact,  workings  in  our  own  being, 
we  transfer  it,  independent  of  our  will,  and  apparently  common  to  other 
minds,  we  learn  to  connect  therewdth  the  feeling  and  sense  of  reality ;  and 
the  objective  becomes  synonymous  first  with  external,  then  with  real,  and 
at  length  it  was  employed  to  express  universal  and  permanent  vaUdity,  free 
from  the  accidents  and  particular  constitution  of  individual  intellects  ;  nay, 
when  taken  in  its  highest  and  absolute  sense,  as  fi*ee  from  the  inherent 
limits,  partial  perspective,  and  refracting  media  of  the  human  mind  in 
specie,  {idola  tribus  of  Lord  Bacon,)  as  distinguished  from  mind  in  toto 
gen^re.  In  direct  antithesis  to  these  several  senses  of  the  term,  objective, 
the  subjective  has  been  used  as  synonymous  with,  first,  inward  ;  second, 
unreal ;  and  third,  that,  the  cause  and  seat  of  which  are  to  be  referred  to 
the  special  or  incUvidual  peculiarity  of  the  percipient's,  mmd  ,organs,  or  re- 
lative position.  Of  course,  the  meaning  of  the  word  in  any  one  sentence 
cannot  be  definitely  ascertained  but  by  aid  of  tlie  context,  and  will  vary 
with  the  immediate  purposes,  and  previous  views  and  persuasions  of  the 
writer.  Thus,  the  egoist,  or  ultra-idealist,  affirms  all  objects  to  be  subjective  ; 
the  disciple  of  Malbranche,  or  of  Berkeley,  that  the  objective  subsists 
wholly  and  solely  in  the  universal  subject — God.  A  lady,  otherwise  of 
sound  mind,  was  so  affected  by  the  reported  death  of  her  absent  husband, 
that  every  night  at  the  same  hour  she  saw  a  figure  at  the  foot  of  her  bed, 
which  she  identified  with  him,  and  minutely  described  to  the  bystanders, 
during  the  continuance  of  the  vision.    The  husliand  returned,  and  previ- 

45 


354  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

ous  to  the  meeting,  was  advised  to  appear  for  the  first  time  at  the  foot  of 
the  bed,  at  the  precise  instant  that  the  spirit  used  to  appe  ar,  and  in  the 
dress  described,  in  the  hope  that  the  original  might  scare  away  the  coun- 
terfeit ;  or,  to  speak  more  seriously,  in  the  expectation  that  the  impression 
on  her  senses  from  without  would  meet  half  way,  as  it  were,  and  repel,  or 
take  the  place  of,  the  image  from  the  brain.  He  followed  the  advice  ; 
but  the  moment  he  took  his  position,  the  lady  shrieked  out,  "My  God  there 
are  hvo !  and" — ^The  story  is  an  old  one,  and  you  may  end  it,  happily  or 
tragically,  Tate's  King  Lear  or  Shakspeare's,  according  to  your  taste.  I 
have  brought  it  as  a  good  instance  of  the  force  of  the  two  words.  You 
and  I  would  hold  the  one  for  a  subjective,  phenomenon,  the  other  only  for 
objective,  and  perhaps  illustrate  the  fact,  as  I  have  already  done  elsewliere, 
by  the  case  of  two  appearances  seen  in  juxta-position,  the  one  by  trans- 
mitted, and  the  other  by  reflected,  light.  A  believer,  according  to  the  old 
style,  whose  almanack  of  faith  has  the  one  tiifling  fault  of  being  for  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  fou7\  instead  of  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  twenty,  would  stickle  for  the  objectivity  of  both.* 

Andrew  Baxter,  again,  would  take  a  different  road  from  either.  He 
would  agree  with  us  in  calling  the  apparition  subjective,  and  the  figure  of 
the  husband  objective,  so  far  as  the  ubi  of  the  latter,  and  its  position  extra 
cerebrum,  or  in  outward  spaces,  was  in  question.  But  he  would  differ 
from  us  in  not  identifying  the  agent  or  proper  cause  of  the  fonner — ^i.  e. 


*Nay,  and  relate  the  circumstance  for  the  very  purpose  of  proving    the 
reality  or  objective   truth  of  ghosts.     For  the  lady  saw  both !    But  if  this 
were  any  proof  at  all,  it  would  at  best  be  a  supei-fluous  proof,  and  super- 
seded by  the  bed-posts,  &c.     For  if  she  saw  the  real  posts  at  the   same 
time  with  the  ghost,  that  stood  betwixt  them^  or  rather  if  she  continued  to 
see  the  ghost,  spite  of  the  sight  of  these,  how  should  she  not  see  the  real 
husband  ?  What  was  to  make  the  difference  between  the  two   solids,  or 
intercept  the  rays  from  the  husband's  dressing-gown,  while  it  allowed  free 
passage  to  those  from  the  bed-cuitain  ?     And  yet  I  first  heard  this  story, 
from  one,  who,   though   professedly  an  unbeliever  in  this  branch  of  an- 
cient Pneumatics,  (which  stood,  however,  a  niche  higher,  I  suspect,  in  his 
o-ood  opinion,  than  Monboddo's  ancient  Metaphysics,)  adduced  it  as  a  some- 
thing on  the  other  side! — A  puzzhng  fact !  and  challenged  me  to  answer  it. 
And  this,   too,  was  a  man  no  less  respectable  for  talents,   education,  and 
active  sound  sense,  than  for  birth,  fortune,  and  official  rank.     So  strangely 
are  the  liealthiest  judgments  suspended  by  any  out  of  the  way  combina- 
tions, connected  with  obscure  feelings  and  inferences,  when  they  happen 
to  have  occurred  within  the  narrator's  own  knowledge  ! — The  pith  of  this 
argument  in   support  of  ghost-ohjects,  stands  thus  :  B=D  :  Cz=D  :    ergOy 
B=C.     The  D,  in  this  instance,  being  the  equal  visibility  of  the  figure,  and 
of  its  real  du})licate,  a  logic  that  would  entitle  the   logician  to  dine  off  a 
neck  of  mutton  in  a  looking-glass,  and  to  set  his  little  ones  in  downright 
earnest  to  hunt  the  rabbits  on  the  wall  by  candle-light.     Things,  that  fall 
under  the  same  definition,  belong  to  the  same  class ;  and  visible,  yet  not 
tangible,  is  the  generic  character  of  reflections,  shadows,  and  ghosts ;  and 
apparitions,  their  common,  and  most  certainly  their  proper,  CAn'sfran  name. 


APPENDIX. 


355 


the  apparition — with  the  subject  beholding.  Tlie  shape  beheld  he  would 
grant  to  be  a  makhig  in  the  beholder's  own  brain ;  but  the  facient,  he 
would  contend,  was  a  several  and  other  subject,  an  intrusive  supernumerary 
or  squatter  in  tlie  same  tenement  and  work-shop,  and  working  with  the 
same  tools  [ipyara,)  as  the  subject,  their  rightful  owner  and  original  occu- 
pant. And  verily  I  could  say  something  in  favour  of  this  theory,  if  only  I 
might  put  my  own  interpretation  on  it — having  been  hugely  pleased  with 
the  notion  of  that  father  of  oddities,  and  oddest  of  the  fathei-s,  old  Ter- 
TULLiAN,  who  considers  these  soggetti  eaUivi^  (that  takes  possession  of  oth- 
er folk's  kitchens,  pantries,  sculleries,  and  water-closets,  causing  a  sad 
to-do  at  /ie«w/-quartei-s,)  as  creatures  of  the  same  order  with  the  Taeniae, 
Lumbrici,  and  Ascarides — i.  e.  the  Round,  Tafle,  and  Thread-worms. 
Daemones  hsec  sua  corpora  dilatant  et  contrahunt  ut  volunt,  sicut  I/imibrici 
et  alia  qucsdam  insecta.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  difference  between  this  last 
class  of  speculators  and  the  conmion  run  of  ghost-fanciei-s,  will  scarcely 
enable  us  to  exhibit  any  essential  change  in  tlie  meaning  of  tlie  terms. 
Both  must  be  described  as  asserting  the  objective  nature  of  tJie  appearance, 
and  in  both  the  term  contains  the  sense  of  real  as  opposed  to  imaginary, 
and  of  outness  no  less  than  of  otherness,  the  difference  in  the  former  be- 
ing only,  that,  in  the  vulgar  belief,  the  object  is  outward  in  relation  to  the 
whole  circle,  in  Baxter's,  to  the  centre  only.  The  one  places  the  ghost 
without,  the  other  within,  the  line  of  circumference. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  these  different  shades  of  meaning  form  no  valid 
objection  to  the  revival  and  readoption  of  these  conelative  tenns  in  phys- 
iologj'*  and  mental  analytics,  as  expressing  the  two  poles  of  all  conscious- 
ness, in  then'  most  general  form  and  highest  al^straction.  For,  by  the  law 
of  association,  the  same  metaphorical  changes,  or  shiflings  and  ingraflings 
of  the  primary  sense,  must  inevitably  take  place  in  all  terms  of  greatest 
comprehensiveness  and  simplicity.  Instead  of  subject  and  object,  put 
thought  and  thing.  You  will  find  these  liable  to  the  same  inconveniences, 
with  the  additional  one  of  having  no  adjectives  or  adverbs,  as  substitutes 
for  objective,  subjective,  objectively,  subjectively.  It  is  sufiicient  that  no 
heterogeneous  senses  are  confounded  under  the  same  term,  as  was  the 
case  prior  to  Bishop  Bramhall's  controversy  with  Ilobbes,  who  had  availed 
himself  of  the  (at  that  time,  and  in  the  common  usage)  equivalent  words, 
compel  and  oblige,  to  confound  the  thought  of  moral  obligation  with  that 
of  compulsion  and  physical  necessity.  For  the  rest,  the  remedy  must  be 
provided  by  a  dictionary,  constructed  on  the  one  only  philosopliical  prin- 
ciple, which,  regarding  words  as  living  growths,  offsets,  and  organs  of  the 

*"  Physiology,"  according  to  present  usage,  treats  of  the  laws,  organs, 
functions,  &c.  of  life  ;  "  Physics"  not  so.  Now,  qucre  :  The  etymological 
imi)ort  of  the  two  words  being  the  same,  is  the  diiference  in  their  apj)lioa- 
tion  accidental  and  arbitrary,  or  a  hidden  irony  at  the  assumption  on  which 
the  division  is  grounded?  ^^voi;  unv  ^cwj^i,  mtv  /.uyy,  or  Joyog  mpi  ^^voiuxi  yy- 


356  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

liunian  soul,  seeks  to  trace  each  historically,  through  all  the  periods  of  its 
natural  growth,  and  accidental  modifications — a  work  worthy  of  a  lloyal 
and  Imperial  confederacy,  and   which  would  indeed  hcdloiv  the  Alliance  ! 
A  work  which,  executed  for  any  one  language,  would  yet  be  a  benefaction 
to  the  world,  and  to  the  nation  itself  a  source  of  immediate  honour  and  of 
ultimate  weal,   beyond  the  power  of  victories  to   bestow,  or  the  mines  of 
Mexico  to  purchase.     The   realization  of  this  scheme   lies  in  the  far  dis- 
tance ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  it  cannot  but,  beseem  eveiy  individual  com- 
petent to  its  furtherance,  to  contribute  a  small  portion  of  the  materials  for 
the  future  temple — from  a  pohshed  column  to  a  hewn  stone,  or  a  plank  for 
the  scaffolding ;  and  as   they  come  in,  to  erect  wdth  them  sheds   for  the 
workmen,  and  temporaiy  structures  for  present  use.     The  preceding  anal- 
ysis I  would  have  you  regard  as  my  Jirst  contribution  ;  and  the  first,   be- 
cause I  have  been  long  convinced  that  the  want  of  it  is  a  serious  impedi- 
ment— I  will  not  say,  to  that  se\f-knoivledge  which  it   concerns  all  men  to 
attain,  but — to  that  self-understanding  or  insight,  which  it  is  all  men's  in- 
terest that  some  men  should  acquire  ;  that  "the  heaven-descended,  rvuGi 
2'savTov,"  (Juv.  Sat.)  should   exist  not   only  as  a  ivisdom,  but  as  a  science. 
But  every  science   will  have  its  rules  of  art,  and  with  these   its  technical 
terms;  and  in  this  best  of  sciences,  its  elder  nomenclature  has  fallen  into 
disuse,  and  no  other  been  put  in  its  place.     To  bring  these  back  into  light 
as  so  many  delving  tools  dug  up  fi-om  the  rubbish  of  long  deserted  mines 
and  at  the  same  time  to  exemplify  their  use  and  handling,  I  have  drawn 
your  attention   to  the  three  questions : — What  is  the  primaiy  and  proper 
sense  of  the  woixls  Subject  and  Object,  in  the  technical  language  of  phi- 
losophy^ ?  In  what  does    Objectivity  actually  exist  ? — From  w  hat  is  all  ap- 
parent or  assumed  Objectivity  derived  or  transfeiTed  ? 

It  is  not  the  age,  you  have  told  me,  to  bring  hard  words  into  fashion. 
Are  we  to  account  for  this  tender  nwidhedness,  on  the  ground  assigned  by 
your  favourite,  Persius  :  (Sat.  iii.  113.) 

"  Tentemus  fauces :  tenero  latet  ulcus  in  ore 
Putre,  quod  baud  deceat  crustosis  radere  verbis  ?" 

But  is  the  age  so  averse  to  hard  words  ?  Eidouranion ;  Phantasmagoria  ; 
Kaleidoscope  ;  Marmaro-kainomenon  {for  cleaning  mantle-pieces) ;  Protoxi- 
des ;  Deutoxides  ;  Tritoxyds  ;  andDr.  Thomson's  Latin-greek-cnglish  Per- 
oxides ;  not  to  mention  the  splashing  shoals,  that 

" confound  the  language  of  the  nation 

With  long-tailed  words   in  osity  and  ation" 

(as  our  great  living  master  of  sweet  and  perfect  English,  Hookham  Frcre, 
has  it),  would  seem  to  argue  the  very  contrary.  In  the  train  of  these,  me- 
thinks,  object  and  subject,  with  their  derivatives,  look  tame,  and  clahn  a 
place  in  the  last,  or  at  most,  in  the  humbler  scats  of  the  second  y})ecies, 
in  tliG  far-7ioiscd  clustiilication — the   long-tailed  pigs  and  pigs  without  a  tail. 


APPENDIX.  357 

Aife^  hut  not  on  such  dry  topics! — I  submit.  You  have  touched  the  vuhierable 
heel — "lis,  quibus  siccmn  huuen  abest,"  they  juust  needs  be  dry.  We 
liave  Lord  Bacon's  word  for  it.  A  topic  that  requires  steadfast  intuitions, 
clear  conceptions  and  ideas,  as  the  source  and  substance  of  both,  and  that 
will  admit  of  no  substitute  for  these,  in  images,  fictions,  or  factitious  facts, 
must  be  dry  as  the  broad-awake  of  sight  and  day-light,  and  desperately 
barren  of  all  that  interest  which  a  busy  yet  sensual  age  requires  and  finds 
in  the  "  uda  somnia,"  and  moist  moonshine  of  an  epicurean  philosophy. 
For  you,  however,  and  for  those  who,  like  you,  are  not  so  satisfied  witli 
the  present  doctrines,  but  that  you  would  fahi  tiy  "  another  and  an  elder 
lore,"  (and  such  there  are,  I  know,  and  that  the  number  is  on  the  increase,) 
I  hazard  this  assurance, — That  let  what  will  come  of  the  terms,  yet  with- 
out the  trutJis  conveyed  in  these  terms,  there  can  be  no  self-knowledge  ; 
and  without  this,  no  knowledge  of  any  kind.  For  the  fragmentaiy  re- 
collections and  recognitions  of  empiricism*  usurping  the  name  of  experi- 
ence, can  amount  to  opinion  only,  and  that  alone  is  knowledge  which  is  at 
once  real  and  systematic — or,  in  one  word,  organic.  Let  monk  and  pietist 
pervert  the  precept  into  sickly,  brooding,  and  morbid  introversions  of  con- 
sciousness— you  have  learnt,  that,  even  under  the  wisest  regulations,  think- 
ing can  go  but  half  way  toward  this  knowledge.  To  know  the  whole  truth, 
we  must  lilvcwise  act  :  and  he  alone  acts,  who  makes — and  this  can  no 
man  do,  estranged  from  Nature.  Learn  to  know  thyself  in  Nature,  that 
thou  mayest  understand  Nature  in  thyself. 

But  I  forget  myself.  My  pledge  and  purpose  was  to  help  you  over  the 
threshold  into  the  outer  court ;  and  here  I  stand,  spelling  the  dun  charac- 
ters inwoven  in  the  veil  of  Isis,  in  the  recesses  of  the  temple. 

I  must  conclude,  tlierefore,  if  only  to  begin  again  without  too  abrupt  a 

drop.,  lest  I  should  remind  you  of  IMr. in  his  Sui-vey  of  Middlesex, 

who  liavmg  digressed,  for  some  half  a  score  of  pages,  into  the  heights  of 
cosmogony,  the  old  planet  between  Jupiter  and  Mars,  that  went  off,  and 
split  into  the  fom*  new  ones,  besides  the  smaller  rubbish  for  stone  showers, 
the  formation  of  the  galaxy,  and  the  other  world-worlds,  on  the  same 
principles,  and  by  similar  accidents,  superseding  the  hypothesis  of  a  Crea- 
tor, and  demonstrating  the  supei-fluity  of  church  tithes  and  country  par- 
sons, takes  up  the  stitch  again  with — But  to  return  to  the  subject  of  dung. 
God  bless  you  and  your 

Aftectionate  Friend, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


*Let  y  express  tlie  conditions  under  which  E,  (that  is,  a  series  of  fonns, 
facts,  circumstances,  &c.  ])resented  to  the  senses  of  an  individual,)  will 
become  Experience — and  we  niiglit,  not  inia})tly,  defuie  the  two  words 
thus :  E-f-^:i:::Experience  ;  E — 2/::::iEmpiiicisni. 


358  AIDS  TO   REFLECTION. 

LETTER  IV. 

TO  A  JUNIOR  SOPH,   AT  CAMBRIDGE. 

Oft£N,  my  dear  young  friend !  often  and  bitterly,  do  I  regret  the  stupid 
|)rejudice  that  made  me  neglect  my  mathematical  studies,  at  Jesus.  There 
is  something  to  me  enigmatically  attractive  and  imaginative  in  the  gene- 
ration of  <;urves,  and  in  the  whole  geometry  of  motion.  I  seldom  look  at 
a  fine  jwospect  or  mountain  landscape,  or  even  at  a  grand  picture,  without 
abstracting  the  hues  with  a  teeling  similar  to  that  with  which  I  should 
«onte<mplate  the  gi'aven  or  painted  walls  of  some  temple  or  palace  in  Mid 
Africa — doubtful  whether  it  were  mere  Arabesque,  or  undeciphered  cha- 
racters of  an  unknown  tongue,  framed  when  the  language  of  men  was 
nearer  to  that  of  nature — a  language  of  symbols  and  coiTespondences.  I 
am,  therefore,  far  more  disposed  to  envy,  than  join  in  the  laugh  against 
your  fellow-collegiate,  for  amusing  himself  in  the  geometrical  construction 
of  leaves  and  flowers. 

Since  the  receipt  of  your  last,  I  never  take  a  turn   round  the   garden 
without  thinking  of  his  billow-lines   and  shell-lines,  under  the  well-sound- 
ing names  of  Cumaids  and  Conchoids  ;  they   have  as  much  life  and  poe- 
try for  me,  as  their  elder  sisters,  the  Naids,  Nereids,  and  Hama-dryads.     I 
pray  you,  present  my  best  respects  to  him,  and  tell  him  that  he  brought  to 
my  recollection  the  glorious  passage  in  Plotinus,  "  Should  any  one  inter- 
rogate Nature  hoio  she  works   if  graciously  she  vouchsafe  to  answer,  she 
will  say,  it  behooves  thee  to  understand  me  {or  better  and  more  literally,  to 
go  along  with  me)  in  silence,  even  as  I  am  silent,  and  work  without  words ;" 
but  you  have  a  Plotinus,  and  may  construe  it  for  youi-self. — (Ennead  3. 1. 
8.  c.  3.)  attending  particularly  to  the  comparison  of  the  process   pursued 
by  Nature,  with  that  of  the   geometrician.     And  now  for  your  questions 
respecting  the  moral  influence  of  W.'s  minor  poems.     Of  course,  this  will 
be   greatly  modified   by  the  character  of  the   recipient     But  that  in  the 
majority  of  instances  it  has  been   most  salutary,  I  cannot  for  a  moment 
doubt.     But  it  is  another  question,  whether  verse  is  the  best  way  of  disci- 
plining the  mind  to  tliat  spiritual  alchemy,  which  communicates  a  sterling 
value  to  real  or  apparent  trifles,  by  using  them  as  moral  diagrams,  as  your 
friend  uses  the  oak  and  fig-leaves  as  geometrical   ones.     To  have  fbnned 
the  habit  of  looking  at  every  thing,  not   for  what  it  is  relative  to  the  pur- 
poses and  associations  of  men  in  general,  but  for  the  truths  which  it  is  suit- 
ed to  represent — to  contemplate  objects  as  words  and  pregnant  symbols — 
the  advantages  of  this  my  dear  D.,  are  so  many,  and  so  important,  so  em- 
inently calculated  to  excite  and  evolve  the  power  of  sound  and  connected 
reasoning,  of  distinct  and  clear  conception,  and  of  genial  feehog,  that  there 
are  few  of  W.'s  finest   passages — and  who,  of  living  i)octs,  can  lay  claim 
to  half  the  number; — that  1  repeat  so  often,  as  that  homely  quatrain, 


APPENDIX.  359 

O  reader !  had  you  in  your  mind 

Sucli  stores  as  silent  thought  can  bring  ; 
O  gentle  reader !  you  would  find 

A  tale  in  every  thing. 

You  did  not  know  my  revered  fi'iend  and  patron  ;  or  rather^  yoti  do 
know  the  man,  and  mourn  his  loss,  fi-om  the  character  I  have*  lately  given 
of  him.  The  following  supj)osed  dialogue  actually  took  place,  in  a  con- 
versation with  him  -y  and  as  in  part,  an  illustration  of  what  I  have  already 
said,  and  in  part  as  text  and  introduction  to  much  I  would  wish  to  say,  I 
entreat  you  to  read  it  with  patience,  spite  of  tlie  triviality  of  the  subject, 
and  mock-heroic  of  the  title. 

SUBSTANCE  OF  A  DIALOGUE,  WITH  A  COMMENTARY  ON  THE  SAME. 

A   I  never  found  yet,  an  inkstand  that  I  was  satisfied  with. 

B.  What  would  you  have  an  inkstand  to  be  ?  What  qualities  and  pro- 
perties would  you  wish  to  have  combined  in  an  inkstand  ?  Reflect !  Con- 
sult your  past  experience ;  taking  care,  however,  not  to  desire  things  de- 
monstrably, or  self-evidently  incompatible  with  each  other ;  and  the  union 
of  these  desiderata  will  be  your  ideal  of  an  inkstand.  A  friend,  perliaps, 
suggests  some  additional  excellence  that  might  rationally  be  desired,  till  at 
length  the  catalogue  may  be  considered  as  complete,  when  neither  your- 
self, nor  others  can  think  of  any  desideratum  not  anticipated  or  precluded 
by  some  one  or  more  of  the  points  already  enumerated ;  and  the  concep- 
tion of  all  these,  as  realized  in  one  and  the  same  artefact,  may  be  fairly  en- 
titled, the 

Ideal  of  an  Inkstand, 

That  the  pen  should  be  allowed,  without  requiring  any  efl^ort  or  inter- 
ruptive  act  of  attention  from  the  writer,  to  dip  sufficiently  low,  and  yet  be 
]irevented,  without  injuring  its  nib,  from  dipping  too  low,  or  taking  up  too 
nmch  ink  :  That  the  inkstand  should  be  of  such  materials  as  not  to  decom- 
pose the  ink,  or  occasion  a  deposition  or  discoloration  of  its  specific  ingredi- 
ents, as,  from  what  cause  I  know  not,  is  the  faultof  the  black  Wedge  wood- 
ware  inkstands  ;  that  it  should  be  so  constructed,  that  on  being  overturned 
the  hik  cannot  escape  ;  and  so  protected,  or  made  of  such  stuff*,  that  in 
case  of  a  blow  or  fall  from  any  common  height,  the  inkstand  itself  will 
not  be  broken  ; — that  from  both  these  qualities,  and  from  its  shape,  it  may 
l)e  safely  and  commodiously  travelled  with,  and  packed  up  with  books, 
linen,  or  whatever  else  is  likely  to  form  the  contents  of  the  portmanteau, 
or  travelling  trunk ; — ^that  it  should  stand  steadily  and  commodiously,  and 
be  of  as  pleasing  a  shape  and  appearance  as  is  compatible  with  its   more 


*In  the  8th  Number  of  the  Friend,  as  first  circulated  by  the  post.  I 
dare  assert,  that  it  is  worthy  of  preservation,  and  will  send  a  transcript  in 
my  next. 


360  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

important  u^es ; — and  lastly,  though  of  minor  regard,  and  non-essential, 
that  it  be  capable  of  including  other  implements  or  requisites,  always,  or 
occasionally,  connected  with  the  art  of  writing,  as  pen-knife,  wafers,  &c. 
without  any  addition  to  the  size  and  weight  otherwise  desirable,  and  with- 
out detriment  to  its  more  important  and  proper  advantages. 

Now,  (continued  B.)  that  we  have  an  adequate  notion  of  what  is  to  be 
wished,  let  us  try  what  is  to  be  done !  And  my  friend  actually  succeeded 
in  constructing  an  inkstand,  in  which,  during  the  twelve  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  this  conversation,  alas !  I  might  almost  say,  since  his  death, 
I  have  never  been  able,  though  I  have  put  my  wits  on  the  stretch,  to  de- 
tect any  thing  wanting  that  an  inlvstand  could  be  rationally  desired  to  pos- 
sess ;  or  even  to  imagine  any  addition,  detraction,  or  change,  for  use  or 
appearance,  that  I  could  desire,  without  involving  a  contradiction. 

Here  !  (methinks  I  hear  the  reader  exclaim)  Here's  a  meditation  on  a 
broomstick  with  a  vengeance !  Now,  in  the  first  place,  I  am,  and  I  do  not 
care  who  knows  it,  no  enemy  to  meditations  on  broomsticks ;  and  though 
Boyle  had  been  the  real  author  of  the  aiticle  so  waggishly  passed  off  for 
liis  on  poor  Lady  Berkley ;  and  though  that  good  man  had  written  it  in 
grave  good  earnest,  I  am  not  certain  that  he  would  not  have  been  emi)loy- 
ing  his  time  as  creditably  to  himself,  and  as  profitably  for  a  large  class  of 
readers,  as  the  witty  dean  was  while  composing  the  Drapier's  Letters, 
though  the  muses  forbid  that  I  should  say  the  same  of  Mary  Cooke's  Pe- 
tition, Hamilton's  Bawn,  or  even  the  rhyming  coiTesiwndencc  with  Dr. 
Sheridan.  In  hazarding  this  confession,  how^ever,  I  beg  leave  to  put  in  a 
provided  always,  that  the  said  Meditation  on  Broomstick,  or  aliud  quidibet 
ejusdem  fannce,  shall  be  as  truly  a  meditation  as  the  broomstick  is  verily  a 
broomstick — and  that  the  name  be  not  a  misnomer  of  vanity,  or  fi-audu- 
lently  labelled  on  a  mere  compound  of  brain-dribble  and  printer's  ink. 
For  meditation,  I  presume,  is  that  act  of  the  mind,  by  which  it  seeks  within 
either  the  law  of  the  phenomena,  which  it  had  contemplated  without, 
[mediiaiio  scientifica,)  or  semblances,  symbols,  and  analogies,  coiTesponsive 
to  the  same,  [meditatio  ethica.)  At  all  events,  therefore,  it  implies  thinkings 
and  tends  to  make  the  reader  tliink;  and  whatever  does  this,  does  what  in 
the  present  over-excited  state  of  society  is  most  wanted,  though  perhaps 
least  desired.  Between  the  thinking  of  a  Harvey  or  Quai'lcs,  and  the 
thinking  of  a  Bacon  or  a  Fcnelon,  many  are  the  degrees  of  difl^erence, 
and  many  the  differences  in  degree  of  depth  and  originality ;  but  not  such 
as  to  fill  up  the  chasm  in  genere  between  thinking  and  no-thinking,  or  to 
render  the  discrimination  difficult  for  a  man  of  ordinary  understanding, 
not  under  the   same^  contagion  of  vanity  as  the  writer.     Besides,   there 

*"  Verily,  to  ask,  what  meancth  this  ?  is  no  Herculean  labour.  And  the 
reader  languishes  under  the  same  vain  glory  as  his  author,  and  hath  laid 
his  head  on  the  other  knee  of  Oniphale,  if  he  can  mistake  the  thin  voc.i- 
blcs  of  incogitance  for  the  consubstantial  words  which  thought  begetteth 
and  goeth  forth  my—Sir  T.  Broivn,  MSS. 


APPENDIX.  361 

are  sliallows  for  the  full  grown,  that  are  the  maximum  of  safe  depth  for 
the  yoiuighngs.     There  are  truths,  quite  common-place  to  you  and  mo,  that 
for  the  uninstructed  many  would  be  new  and  full  of  wonder,  as  the  com- 
mon day  light  to  the  Lapland  child  at  the  re-ascension  of  its  second  sum- 
mer.   Thanks  and  honour  in  the  highest  to  those  stars  of  the  first  magni- 
tude that  shoot  their  beams  downward,   and  while  in  their  proper  form 
they  stir  and  invirtuate  the  sphere  next  below  them,  and  natures  pre-as- 
similated  to  their  influence,  yet  call  forth  likewise,  each  after  its  own  norm 
or  model,  whatever  is  best  in  whatever  is  susceptible  to  each,  even  in  the 
lowest.    But,   excepting  these,  I  confess  that  I  seldom  look  at  Harvey's 
Meditations  or  Quarles'  Eniblems,*  without   feeling  tliat  I  would  rather 
be  the  author  of  those  books — of  the  innocent  pleasure,  the  purifying  emo- 
tions,  and  genial  awakenings  of  the  humanity  through  the  whole   man, 
which  those  books  have  given  to  thousands  and  tens  of  tliousands — than 
shine  the  brightest  in  the  constellation  of  fame  among  the  heroes  and  Dii 
minores  of  literature.    But  I  have  a  better  excuse,  and  if  not  a  belter,  yet 
a  less  general  motive,  for  this  solemn  trifling,  as  it  will  seem,  and  one  tliat 
will,  I  trust,  rescue  my  ideal  of  an   inkstand  from  being  doomed  to  the 
same  slut's  corner  with  the  de  trihus  Capellis,  or  de  umbra,  asini,  by  virtue 
of  the  process  which  it  exemplifies ;  though  I  should  not  quarrel  with  the 
allotment,  if  its  risible  merits  allowed  it  to  keep  company  with  the  ideal 
immortalized  by  Rabelais  in  his  disquisition  inquisitoiy  De  Rebu^  optime 
abstergeniibu^. 

Dared  I  mention  the  name  of  my  Idealizer^  a  name  dear  to  science,  and 
consecrated  by  discoveries  of  far  extending  utility,  it  would  at  least  give  a 
biographical  interest  to  this  trifling  anecdote,  and  perhaps  entitle  me  to 
claim  for  it  a  yet  higher,  as  a  trait  in  mimimisy  characteristic  of  a  class  of 
powerful  and  most  beneficent  intellects.  For  to  the  same  process  of  thought 
we  owe  whatever  instruments  of  power  have  been  bestowed  on  mankind 
by  science  and  genius ;  and  only  such  deserve  the  name  of  inventions  or 
discoveries.  But  even  in  those,  which  chance  may  seem  to  claim,  "gwce 
Jwmini  obvenisse  videantur  potius  quam  homo  venire  in  ea" — which  come 
to  us  rather  than  we  to  them — this  jjrocess  will  most  often  be  found  as  the 
indispensable  antecedent  of  the  discovery — as  the  condition,  without  which 
the  suggesting  accident  would  have  whispered  to  deaf  ears,   unnoticed  ; 

*A  full  collection,  a  Bibliotheca  Speciahs,  of  the  books  of  emblems  and 
symbols,  of  all  sects  and  parties,  moral,  theological,  or  political,  including 
those  in  the  Centennaries  and  Jubilee  volumes,  published  by  the  Jesuit 
and  other  religious  orders,  is  a  desideratum  in  our  library  literature  that 
would  well  employ  the  talents  of  our  ingenious  masters  in  wood  engra- 
ving, etching,  and  lithogi*aphy,  under  the  superintendence  of  a  Dibdin,  and 
not  miworthy  of  royal  and  noble  patronage,  or  the  attention  of  a  Long- 
man and  his  compeers.  Singly  or  jointly  undertaken,  it  would  do  honour 
to  these  princely  merchants  in  the  service  of  the  muses.  What  stores 
might  not  a  Southey  contribute  as  notes  or  interspersed  prefaces  ?  I  could 
dream  away  an  hour  on  the  subject. 

46 


362  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

or,  like  the  faces  in  the  fire,  or  the  landscapes  made  by  damp  on  a  white- 
washed wall,  noticed  for  their  oddity  alone.  To  the  birth  of  the  tree  a 
prepared  soil  is  as  necessary  as  the  falhng  seed.  A  Daniel  was  present ; 
or  the  fatal  characters  in  the  banquet-hall  of  Belshazzar  might  have  struck 
more  terror,  but  would  have  been  of  no  more  import  than  the  trail  of  a 
luminous  worm.  In  the  far  greater  number,  indeed,  of  these  asserted 
boons  of  chance,  it  is  the  accident  that  should  be  called  the  condition — and 
often  not  so  much,  but  merely  the  occasion — ^while  the  proper  cause  of 
the  invention  is  to  be  sought  for  in  the  co-existing  state  and  previous  habit 
of  the  observer's  mind.  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  account  for  respiration 
from  the  stimulus  of  the  mV,  without  ascribing  to  the  specific  stimulability 
of  the  lungs,  a  yet  more  important  part  in  the  joint  product.  To  how  ma- 
ny myriads  of  individuals  had  not  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  lid  in  a  boiling 
kettle  been  familiar,  an  appearance  daily  and  hourly  in  sight  ?  But  it 
was  resei-ved  for  a  mind  that  understood  what  was  to  be  wished,  and 
knew  what  was  wanted  in  order  to  its  fulfilment — for  an  armed  eye. 
which  meditation  had  made  contemplative,  an  eye  armed  from  with- 
in, with  an  instrument  of  higher  powers  than  glasses  can  give,  with  the 
logic  of  method,  the  only  true  Organum  Fleviisticum  which  possesses 
the  fonner  and  better  half  of  knowledge  in  itself  as  the  science  of  wise 
questioning,*  and  the  other  half  in  reversion — ^it  was  resei-ved  for  the 
Marquis  of  Worcester  to  see  and  have  given  into  his  hands,  from 
the  alternation  of  expansion  and  vacuity,  a  power  mightier  than  that 
of  Vulcan  and  all  his  Cyclops  :  a  power  that  found  its  practical  limit  only 
where  nature  could  supply  no  limit  strong  enough  to  confine  it.  For  the 
genial  spirit,  that  saw  what  it  had  been  seeking,  and  saw  because  it  sought, 
was  it  resei-ved  in  the  dancing  fid  of  a  kettle  or  coftee-urn,  to  behold  the 
future  steam-engine,  the  Talus,  with  whom  the  BritomEut  of  science  is  now 
gone  forth  to  subdue  and  humanize  the  planet !  When  the  bodily  organ, 
steadying  itself  on  some  chance  thing,  imitates,  as  it  were,  the  fixture  of 
"  the  inward  eye"  on  its  ideal  shapings,  then  it  is  that  Nature  not  seldom 
reveals  her  close  affinity  with  mind,  "with  that  more  than  man  which  is 
one  and  the  same  in  all  men,  and  from  which 

"  the  soul  receives 

Reason :  and  reason  is  her  being .'" 

Par.  Lost. 

Then  it  is,  that  Nature,  like  an  individual  spirit  or  fellow  soul,  seems  to 

think  and  hold  commune  with"  us.    If,  in  the  present  contempt  of  all 

mental  analysis  not  contained  in  Locke,  Hartley,  or  Condillac,  it  were  safe 

to  borrow  fi*om  "  scholastic  lore"  a  technical  term  or  two,  for  which  I  have 

not  yet  found  any  substitute  equally  convenient  and  serviceable,  I  should 

*"  Prudens  quoestio  dimidium  scientise,"  says  our  Verulam,  the  second 
founder  of  the  science,  and  the  first  who  o?i  principle  applied  it  to  the  ideas 
in  nature,  as  his  great  compeer  Plato  had  before  done  to  the  laws  in  the 
mind. 


APPENDIX. 


363 


say,  that  at  such  moments  Nature,  as  another  subject  veiled  behind  the  vis- 
ible object  without  us,  solicits  the  intelligible  object  hid,  and  yet  struggluig 
beneath  the  subject  within  us,  and  like  a  helping  Lucina,  brings  it  forth 
for  us  into  distinct  consciousness  and  common  light.  Who  has  not  tried 
to  get  hold  of  some  half-remembered  name,  mislaid  as  it  were  in  the  me- 
moiy,  and  yet  felt  to  be  there  ?  And  who  has  not  experienced,  how  at 
length  it  seems  given  to  us,  as  if  some  other  unperceived  had  been  ejn- 
ployed  in  the  same  search  ?  And  what  are  the  objects  last  spoken  of, 
which  are  in  the  subject,  [i.  e.  the  individual  mind)  yet  not  subjective,  but 
of  universal  vaUdity,  no  accidents  of  a  particular  mind  resulting  from  its 
individual  structure,  no,  nor  even  of  the  human  mind,  as  a  particular  class 
or  rank  of  intelligencies,  but  of  imperishable  subsistence ;  and  though  not 
things,  {i.  e.  shapes  in  outward  space,)  yet  equally  independent  of  the  be- 
holder, and  more  than  equally  real — what,  I  say,  are  those  but  the  names 
of  nature  ?  the  nomina  quasi  vhuitcc,  opposed  by  the  wisest  of  the  Greek 
schools  to  phaenomena,  as  the  intelligible  correspondents  or  coiTelatives  in 
the  mind  to  the  invisible  su})porters  of  the  appearances  in  tlie  world  of 
the  senses,  the  upholding  powers  that  cannot  be  seen,  but  the  presence  and 
actual  being  of  which  must  be  supposed — nay,  tvill  he  supposed,  in  defi- 
ance of  every  attempt  to  the  contrary  by  a  crude  materialism,  so  alien 
from  humanity,  that  there  does  not  exist  a  language  on  earth,  in  which  it 
could  be  conveyed  without  a  contradiction  between  the  sense  and  the 
words  employed  to  express  it ! 

Is  this  a  mere  random  flight  in  etymology,  hunting  a  bubble,  and  bring- 
ing back  the  film  ?  I  cannot  think  so  contemptuously  of  the  attempt  to 
fix  and  restore  the  ti*ue  import  of  any  word ;  but,  in  this  instance,  I  should 
regard  it  as  neither  unprofitable,  nor  devoid  of  rational  interest,  were  it 
only  that  the  knowledge  and  reception  of  the  import  here  given,  as  the 
etymon,  or  genuine  sense  of  the  word,  would  save  Christianity  from  the 
reproach  of  containing  a  doctrine  so  repugnant  to  the  best  feelings  of  hu- 
manity, as  is  inculcated  in  the  following  passage,  among  a  hundred  others 
to  the  same  pui-pose,  in  earlier  and  in  more  recent  works,  sent  forth  by 
professed  Christians.  "Most  of  the  men,  who  are  now  alive,  or  that  have 
been  living  for  many  ages,  are  Jews,  Heathens,  or  Mahometans,  strangers, 
and  enemies  to  Christ,  in  whose  name  alone  we  can  be  saved.  This  con- 
sideration is  extremely  sad,  when  we  remember  how  gi-eat  an  evil  it  is, 
that  so  many  millions  of  sons  and  daughters  are  born  to  enter  into  the  posses- 
sion of  devils  to  eternal  ages.'''' — Taylor's  Holy  Dying,  p.  28.  Even  Sir  T. 
Brown,  while  his  heart,  wrestling  with  the  dogma  grounded  on  the  trivial 
interpretation  of  the  word,  nevertheless  receives  it  in  this  sense,  and  ex- 
presses most  gloomy  apprehensions  "  of  the  ends  of  those  honest  worthies 
and  philosophers,"  who  died  before  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  "It  is  hard," 
says  he,  "to  place  those  souls  in  hell,  whose  worthy  lives  did  teach  us  vir- 
tue on  earth.  How  strange  to  them  will  soimd  the  hi^5tory  of  Adam,  when 
they  shall  suffer  for  him  they  never  heard  of  I"    Yet  he  concludes  by  con- 


364  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

denining  the  insolence  of  reason  in  daring  to  doubt  or  controvert  the  ver- 
ity of*  the  doctrine,  or,  "  to  question   the  justice  of  the  proceeding,"  which 
verity,  he  fears,  the  woful  lot  of  ^Hhese  great  examples  of  virtue  must  con- 
firrn.^^    But  here  I  must  break  off. 

Yours  most  affectionately, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

LiFTTER  V. 

TO    THE    SAME. 

My  bear  D. — The  philosopluc  poet,  whom  I  quoted  in  my  last,  may 
here  and  there  have  stretched  his  prerogative  in  a  war  of  offence  on  the  ge- 
neral associations  of  his  contemporaries.  Here  and  there,  though  less  than 
the  least  of  what  the  Buffoons  of  parody  and  the  Zanies  of  anonymous 
criticism  would  have  us  believe,  lie  may  be  thought  to  betray  a  preference 
of  mean  or  trivial  instances  for  grand  morals,  a  capricious  predilection  for 
incidents  that  contrast  with  the  depth  and  novelty  of  the  truths  they  are  to 
exemplify.  But  still  to  the  principle,  to  the  habit  of  tracing  the  presence 
of  the  high  in  the  humble,  the  mysterious  Dii  Cabiri,  in  the  form  of  the 
dwarf  Miner,  with  hammer  and  spade,  and  week-day  apron,  we  must  at- 
tribute Wordsworth's  peculiar  power,  his  leavening  influence  on  the  opin- 
ions, feelings,  and  pursuits  of  his  admirers — most  on  the  young  of  most 
promise  and  highest  acquirements ;  and  that,  while  others  are  read  with 
tlelight,  his  works  are  a  religion,  A  case  still  more  in  point  occurs  to  me, 
and  for  the  ti-utli  of  which  I  dare  pledge  myself.  TJie  art  of  printing 
alone  seems  to  have  been  privileged  wdth  a  Minerval  birth — to  have  risen 
in  its  zenith  ;  but  next  to  this,  perhaps,  the  rapid  and  almost  instantaneous 
advancement  of  pottery  from  the  state  in  which  Mr.  Wedgewood  found 
the  art,  to  its  demonstrably  highest  practicable  perfection,  is  the  most  stri- 
king fact  in  the  Listoiy  of  modern  improvements  achieved  by  individual 
genius.  In  his  early  manhood,  an  obstinate  and  harassing  complaint  con- 
fined him  to  his  room  for  more  than  two  years  ;  and  to  this  apparent  ca- 
lamity Mr.  Wedgewood  was  wont  to  attribute  his  after  unprecedented  suc- 
cess. For  awhile,  as  was  natural,  the  sense  of  thus  losing  the  prime  and 
vigour  of  his  life  and  faculties,  preyed  on  his  mind  incessantly — aggravated, 
no  doubt,  by  the  thought  of  what  he  should  have  been  doing  this  hour  and , 
this,  had  he  not  been  thus  severely  visited.  Then,  what  he  should  like  to 
take  in  hand  ;  and  lastly,  what  it  was  desirable  to  do,  and  how  far  it  might 
be  done,  till  generalizing  more  and  more,  the  mind  began  to  feed  on  the 
thoughts,  which,  at  their  first  evolution,  (in  their  larva  state,  may  I  say  ?) 
had  preyed  on  tiie  mind.  We  imagine  the  presence  of  what  we  desire  in 
the  very  act  of  regretting  its  absence,  nay,  in  order  to  regret  it  the  more 
lively  ;  but  while,  with  a  strang(i  wilfulness,  we  are  thus  engendering  grief 
on  grief,  nature  makes  use  of  the  product  to  cheat  us  into  comfort  and  ex- 
ertion.   The  positive  shai)ing.s,  though  but  of  the  fancy,  will  sooner  or  la- 


APPENDIX.  365 

ter  displace  the  mere  knowledge  of  tlie  negative.  All  activity  is  in  itself 
pleasure  ;  and  according  to  the  nature,  powers,  and  previous  habits  of  the 
sufFerer,  tlie  acti\ity  of  the  fancy  will  call  the  other  faculties  of  the  soul 
into  action.  The  self-contemplative  power  becomes  meditative,  and  the 
mind  begins  to  play  the  geometrician  with  its  own  thoughts — abstracting 
from  tliem  the  accidental  and  individual,  till  a  new  and  unfailing  source  of 
employment,  the  best  and  surest  nepenthe  of  sohtary  pain,  is  opened  out 
in  the  habit  of  seeking  the  principle  and  ultimate  aim  m  the  most  imper- 
fect productions  of  ait,  in  the  least  attractive  products  of  nature  ;  of  be- 
holding the  possible  in  the  real ;  of  detecting  the  essential  fonn  in  the  in- 
tentional ;  above  all,  in  the  collation  and  constructive  imagining  of  the  out- 
ward sha|>es  and  material  forces  that  shaU  best  express  the  essential  form, 
in  its  coincidence  with  the  idea,  or  reahze  most  adequately  that  power, 
which  is  one  with  its  correspondent  knowledge,  as  the  revealing  body  with 
its  indwelling  soul. 

Another  motive  will  present  itself,  and  one  that  comes  nearer  home,  and 
is  of  more  general  application,  if  we  reflect  on  the  habit  here  recommen- 
ded, as  a  source  of  support  and  consolation  in  circumstances  under  which 
we  might  otherv\ise  sink  back  on  ourselves,  and  for  want  of  colloquy  with 
our  thoughts — ^with  the  objects  and  presentations  of  the  iniier  sense — lie 
listening  to  the  fretful  ticking  of  our  sensations.  A  resource  of  costless 
value  has  that  man  who  has  brought  himself  to  a  habit  of  measuring  the 
objects  around  him  by  their  intended  or  possible  ends,  and  the  proportion 
in  which  this  end  is  reaUzed  in  each.  It  is  the  neglect  of  thus  educating 
the  senses,  of  tlius  disciphiiing,  and  in  the  proper  and  primitive  sense  of 
the  word,  informing,  the  fancy,  that  distinguishes  at  fii-st  sight  the  ruder 
states  of  society.  Every  mechanic  tool,  the  commonest  and  most  indis- 
pensable implements  of  agriculture,  might  remind  one  of  the  school-boy's 
second  stage  in  metrical  composition,  in  which  his  exercise  is  to  contain 
sense,  but  he  is  allowed  to  eke  out  the  scanning  by  the  interposition,  here 
and  there,  of  an  equal  quantity  of  nonsense.  And  even  in  the  existing 
height  of  national  civilization,  how  many  individuals  may  there  not  be 
found,  for  whose  senses  the  non-essential  so  preponderates,  that  though 
they  may  have  lived  the  greater  part  of  their  hves  in  the  country,  yet  with 
some  exceptions  for  the  products  of  their  own  flower  and  kitchen  gartlen, 
all  the  names  in  the  index  to  Withe  ring's  Botany,  are  supei-seded  for 
them  by  the  one  name,  a  weed !  •'  It  is  only  a  iveed  /"  And  if  this  indif- 
ference stopt  here,  and  this  particular  ignorance  were  regarded  as  the 
disease,  it  would  be  sickly  to  complain  of  it.  But  it  is  as  a  system  that  it 
excites  regret — it  is  that,  except  only  the  pot-herbs  of  lucre,  and  the  bar- 
ren double  flowers  of  vanity,  tlieir  o^vn  noblest  faculties,  both  of  thought 
and  action,  are  but  weeds — in  which,  should  sickness  or  misfortune  wreck 
them  on  the  desert  island  of  their  own  mind,  they  would  either  not  think 
of  seeking,  or  be  ignorant  how  to  find,  nourishment  or  medicine.     As  it 


366  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

is  good  to  be  provided  with  work  for  rainj'^  days,  Winter  industiy  is  the 
best  cheerer  of  winter  gloom  ;  and  fire-side  contrivances  for  sunmier  use, 
bring  summer  sunshine  and  a  genial  inner  warmth,  which  the  friendly 
hearth  blaze  may  conspire  with,  but  cannot  bestow  or  compensate. 

A  splenetic  friend  of  mine,  who  was  fond  of  outraging  a  truth  by  some 
whimsical  hyperbole,.in  his  way  of  expressing  it,  gravely  gave  it  out  as  his 
opinion,  that  beauty  and  genius  were  but  diseases  of  the  consumptive  and 
scrofulous  order.  He  would  not  carry  it  further  ;  but  yet,  he  must  say, 
that  he  had  observed  that  veiy  good  people,  persons  of  unusual  virtue  and 
benevolence,  were  in  general  afflicted  with  weak  or  restless  nerves !  Af- 
ter yielding  him  the  expected  laugh  for  tlie  oddity  of  the  remark,  I  re- 
minded him  that  if  his  position  meant  any  thing,  the  converse  must  be 
true,  and  we  ought  ^  to  have  Helens,  Mediceean  Venuses,  Shakspeares,  Ra- 
phaels, Howards,  Clarksons,  and  Wilberforces  by  thousands  ;  and  the  as- 
semblies and  pump-rooms  at  Bath,  Harrowgate,  and  Cheltenham,  rival  the 
conversazioni  in  the  Elysian  Fields.  Since  then,  however,  I  have  often  re- 
curred to  the  portion  of  truth  that  lay  at  the  bottom  of  my  friend's  con- 
ceit. It  cannot  be  denied,  that  ill  health,  in  a  degree  below  direct  pain, 
yet  distressingly  affecting  the  sensations,  and  depressing  the  animal  spirits, 
and  thus  leavmg  the  nervous  system  too  sensitive  to  pass  into  the  ordinary 
state  of  feeling,  and  forcing  us  to  live  in  alternating  positives^  is*  a  hot-bed 
for  whatever  germs  and  tendencies,  whether  in  head  or  heart,  have  been 
planted  there  independently. 

Surely,  there  is  nothing  fanciful  in  considering  this  as  a  providential 
provision,  and  as  one  of  the  countless  proofs  that  we  are  most  benignly,  as 
well  as  wonderfully,  constructed  !  The  cutting  and  initating  grain  of  sand 
which  by  accident  or  incaution  has  got  within  the  shell,  incites  the  living 
innate  to  secrete  from  its  own  resources  the  means  of  coating  the  intru- 
sive substance.  And  is  it  not,  or  may  it  not  be,  even  so,  with  the  irregu- 
larities and  unevenness  of  health  and  fortune  in  our  own  case  ?  We,  too, 
may  turn  diseases  into  pearls.  The  means  and  materials  are  within  our- 
selves ;  and   the  process  is  easily  understood.    By  a  law   common  to  all 


^Perhaps  it  confirms  while  it  Hmits  this  theory,  that  it  is  chiefly  verified 
in  men  whose  genius  and  pursuits  are  eminently  subjective,  where  the  mind 
is  intensely  watchful  of  its  own  acts  and  shapings,  thinks,  while  it  feels,  in 
order  to  understand,  and  then  to  generalize  that  feeling  ;  above  all,  where 
all  the  powers  of  the  mind  are  called  into  action,  simultaneously,  and  yet 
severally,  while  in  men  of  equal,  and  perhaps  deservedly  equal  celebrity, 
whose  piu'suits  are  objective  and  universal,  demanding  the  energies  of  at- 
tention and  abstraction,  as  in  mechanics,  mathematics,  and  all  departments 
of  physics  and  pliysiology,  the  very  contrary  would  seem  to  be  exempli- 
fied. Shakspeare  died  "at  53,  and  probably  of  a  decline  ;  and  in  one  of 
his  sonnets  lie  speaks  of  himself  as  gray  and  prematurely  old;  and  Mil- 
ton, who  suffered  from  infancy  those  intense  head-aches  which  ended  in 
blindness,  iusinuates  that  he  was  never  free  from  pain,  or  the  anticipation 
of  pain.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Nevvtons  and  Leibnitzes  have,  in  general, 
been  not  only  long-lived,  but  men  of  robust  health. 


APPENDIX.  oG7 

animal  life,  we  are  incapable  of  attending  for  any  continuance  to  an  ob- 
ject, the  parts  of  which  are  indistinguishable  from  each  other,  or  to  a  se- 
ries, where  the  successive  links  are  only  numerically  different.  Nay,  the 
more  broken  and  irritating,  (as,  for  instance,  the  fractious  noise  of  tlie 
dashing  of  a  lake  on  its  border,  compared  with  the  swell  of  the  sea  on  a 
calm  evening,)  the  more  quickly  does  it  exhaust  our  power  of  noticing  it. 
The  tooth-ache,  where  the  suffering  is  not  extreme,  often  finds  its  speedi- 
est cure  in  the  silent  pillow ;  and  gi'adually  destroys  our  attention  to  itself 
by  preventing  us  from  attending  to  any  thing  else.  From  the  same  cause, 
many  a  lonely  patient  listens  to  his  moans,  till  he  forgets  the  pain  that  oc- 
casioned them.  The  attention  attenuates,  as  its  sphere  contracts.  But  diis 
it  does  even  to  a  point,  where  the  person's  own  state  of  feeling,  or  any 
particular  set  of  bodily  sensations,  are  the  direct  object.  The  slender  thread 
winding  in  narrower  and  narrower  circles  round  its  source  and  centre, 
ends  at  length  in  a  chrysalis,  a  dormitoiy  within  which  the  spinner  un- 
dresses himself  in  his  sleep,  soon  to  come  forth  quite  a  new  creature. 

So  it  is  in  the  slighter  cases  of  suffering,  where  suspension  is  extmction, 
or  followed  by  long  mteiTals  of  ease.  But  where  the  unsubdued  causes 
are  ever  on  the  watch  to  renew  the  pain,  that  thus  forces  our  attention  in 
upon  ourselves,  the  same  barrenness  and  monotony  of  the  object  that  in 
minor  grievances  lulled  the  mind  into  oblivion,  now  goads  it  into  action  by 
the  restlessness  and  natural  impatience  of  vacancy.  We  cannot  perhaps 
divert  the  attention  ;  our  feelings  will  still  form  the  main  subject  of  our 
thoughts.  But  something  is  already  gained,  if,  mstead  of  attending  to  our 
sensations,  we  begm  to  think  of  them.  But  in  order  to  this,  we  must  re- 
flect on  these  thoughts — or  the  same  sameness  will  soon  smk  them  down 
into  mere  feeling.  And  in  order  to  sustain  the  act  of  reflection  on  our 
thoughts,  we  are  obhged  more  and  more  to  compare  and  generalize  them, 
a  process  that  to  a  certain  extent  impUes,  and  in  a  still  greater  degree  ex- 
cites and  introduces,  the  act  and  power  of  abstracting  the  thoughts  and 
images  fi'om  their  original  cause,  and  of  reflecting  on  them  with  less  and 
less  reference  to  the  individual  suffering  that  had  been  their  first  subject. 
The  vis  medicatrix  of  Nature  is  at  work  for  us  in  all  our  faculties  and  ha- 
bits, the  associate,  reproductiv^e,  comparative,  and  combinatory. 

That   tliis  source  of  consolation  and  support  may  be  equally  in  your 

power  as  in  mine,  but  that  you  may  never  have  occasion  to  feel  equally 

grateful  for  it,  as  I  have,  and  do  in  body  and  estate,  is  the  fervent  wish  of 

your  affectionate 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


APPENDIX 


TO  THE 


STATESMAN'S   MANUAL, 


CONTAINING 


COMMENTS  AND  ESSAYS. 


In  this  use  of  tlie  word  "  sufficiency,*'  I  pre-siippose  on  the  part  of  the 
reader  or  hearer,   a  humble  and  docile  state  of  mind,  and  above    all  the 
practice  of  prayer,  as  the  necessary  condition  of  such  a  state,  and  the  best 
if  not  the  only  means  of  becoming  sincere  to  our  own  hearts.     Christianity 
is   especially  differenced  from   all  other  religions  by  being  grounded  on 
facts  which  all  men  alike  have  the  means  of  ascertainmg — the  same  means, 
with  equal  facility,  and  which  no  man  can  ascertain  for  another.     Each 
person  must  be  herein  querist  and  respondent  to  himself;  Am  I  sick,  and 
therefore  need  a  physician  ? — ^Am  I  in  spiritual  slavery,  and  therefore  need 
a  ransomer  ? — Have  I  given  a  pledge,  which  must  be  redeemed,  and  which 
I  cannot  redeem  by  my  own  resources  ? — Am  I  at  one  with  God,  and  is  my 
will  concentric  with  that  holy  power,  which  is  at  once  the  constitutive  will 
and  the  supreme  reason  of  the  universe  ? — If  not,  must  I  not  be  mad  if  I 
do  not  seek,  and  miserable  if  I  do  not  discover  and  embrace,  the  means 
of  at-one-ment  ?     To  collect,  to  weigh,  and  to  appreciate   historical  proofs 
and  presumptions  is  not  equally  within  the  means  and  opportunities  of  eve- 
ry man  alike.  The  testimony  of  books  of  history  is  one   of  the  strong  and 
stately  pillars  of  the  church  of  Christ ;  but  it  is  not  the  foundation  ;  nor 
can  it  without  loss  of  essential   faith  be  mistaken   or  substituted   for  the 
foundation.    There  is  a  sect,  which,  in   its  scornful  pride  of  antipathy  to 
mysteries,  (that  is,  to  all  those  doctrines  of  the  pure  and  intuitive  reason^ 
which  transcend  the  understanding,  and  can  never  be  contemplated  by  it, 
but  through  a  false  and  falsifying    perspective,)  affects  to  condemn  all  in- 
ward and   preliminary  experience,  as  enthusiastic  delusion  or  fanatic  con- 

47 


370 


AIDS     TO    REFLECTION. 


tagion.  Historic  evidence,  on  the  other  hand,  these  men  treat,  as  the  Jews 
of  old  treated  the  brazen  serpent,  which  was  the  rehc  and  evidence  of  the 
miracles  worked  by  Moses  in  the  wilderness.  They  turned  it  into  an  idol : 
and  therefore  Hezekiah  (who  clave  to  the  Lord,  and  did  right  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord,  so  that  after  him  was  none  like  him,  among  all  the  kings  of 
Judah,  nor  any  that  were  before  him)  not  only  '  removed  the  high  places, 
and  brake  the  images,  and  cut  down  the  groves  ;'  but  likewise  brake  in 
pieces  the  Brazen  Serpent  that  Moses  had  made :  for  the  children  of  Is- 
rael did  burn  incense  to  it. 

To  preclude  an  error  so  pernicious,  I  request  that  to  the  wilful  neglect 
of  those  outward  ministrations  of  the  word  which  all  Englishmen  have 
the  privilege  of  attending,  the  reader  will  add  the  setting  at  nought  like- 
wise of  those  inward  means  of  gi-ace,  without  which  the  language  of  the 
Scriptures,  in  the  most  faithful  translation  and  in  the  purest  and  plainest 
Enghsh,  must  nevertheless  continue  to  be  a  dead  language  :  a  sun-dial  by 
moonlight. 

[B.] 

Not  without  great  hesitation  should  I  express  a  suspicion  concerning 
the  genuineness  of  any,  the  least  important  passage  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, unless  I  could  adduce  the  most  conclusive  evidence  from  the  earli- 
est manuscripts  and  commentators,  in  support  of  its  interpolation :  well 
knowing  that  such  permission  has  already  opened  a  door  to  the  most  fear- 
ful license.  It  is  indeed,  in  its  consequences,  no  less  than  an  assumed 
right  of  picking  and  chusing  our  religion  out  of  the  Scriptures.  Most  as- 
suredly I  would  never  hazard  a  suggestion  of  this  kind  in  any  instance  in 
which  the  retention  or  the  omission  of  the  words  could  make  the  slightest 
difference  with  regard  to  fact,  miracle,  or  precept.  Still  less  would  I  start 
the  question,  where  the  hypothesis  of  their  interpolation  could  be  wrested 
to  the  discountenancing  of  any  article  of  doctrine  concerning  which  dis- 
sension existed  :  no,  not  though  the  doubt  or  disbelief  of  the  doctrine  had 
l)een  confined  to  those,  whose  faith  few  but  themselves  would  honour  with 
the  name  of  Christianity;  however  reluctant  we  might  be,  both  fi-om  the 
courtesies  of  social  life  and  the  nobler  charities  of  humility,  to  withhold 
from  the  persons  themselves  the  title  of  Christians. 

But  as  there  is  nothing  in  v.  40  of  Matthew,  c.  xii.  which  would  fall  ^vith- 
in  this  general  rule,  I  dare  permit  myself  to  propose  the  query,  whether 
there  does  not  exist  internal  evidence  of  its  being  a  gloss  of  some  unlearn- 
ed, though  pious,  christian  of  the  first  century,  which  had  slipt  into  the 
text  ?  The  following  are  my  reasons.  1.  It  is  at  all  events  a  comment  on 
the  Avords  of  our  Saviour,  and  no  part  of  his  speech.  2.  It  interrupts  the 
course  and  breaks  down  the  jut  and  aj)plication  of  our  Lord's  argument, 
as  addressed  to  men,  who,  from  their  imwillingness  to  sacrifice  their  vain 
traditions,  gainful  hypocrisy,  and  pride   both  of  heart  and  of  deameanor, 


APPENDIX.  371 

demanded  a  miracle  for  the  confirmation  of  moral  tnitlis  that  must  have 
borne  witness  to  tlieir  own  divinity  in  the  consciences  of  all  who  had 
not  rendered  themselves  conscience-proof.  3.  The  text  strictly  taken  is  ir- 
reconcileable  with  the  fact  as  it  is  afterwards  related,  and  as  it  is  miiver- 
sally  accepted.  I  at  least  remember  no  calculation  of  time,  accordhig  to 
which  the  interspace  from  Friday  evening  to  the  earliest  dawn  of  Sunday 
momingj  could  be  represented  as  three  days  and  three  nights.  As  three 
days  our  Saviour,  himself  speaks  of  it  (John  ii.  19,)  and  so  it  would  be  de- 
scribed in  common  language  as  well  as  according  to  the  use  of  the  Jews ; 
but  I  can  find  no  other  part  of  Scripture  which  authorizes  the  phrase  of 
three  nights.  This  gloss  is  not  fomid  either  in  the  repetition  of  the  cir- 
cumstances by  Matthew  himself  (xvi.  4,)  nor  in  Mark,  (viii.  12,)  nor  in 
Luke,  (xii.  54  :) — Mark's  narration  doth  indeed  most  strikingly  confirm  my 
second  reason,  drawn  from  the  purpose  of  our  Saviour's  argument :  for 
the  allusion  to  the  prophet  Jonas  is  omitted  altogether,  and  the  refusal 
therefore  rests  on  the  dej)ravity  of  the  applicants,  as  proved  by  the  wan- 
tonness of  the  application  itself  All  signs  must  have  been  useless  to  such 
men  as  long  as  the  great  sign  of  the  times,  the  call  to  repentance,  remain- 
ed without  effect.  4.  The  gloss  corresponds  with  the  known  fondness  of 
the  earlier  Jewish  converts,  and  indeed  of  the  christians  in  general  of  the 
second  centuiy,  to  bring  out  in  detail  and  into  exact  square  eveiy  accommo- 
dation of  the  Old  Testament,  which  they  either  found  in  the  gospels,  or 
made  for  themselves.  It  is  too  notorious  into  what  strange  fancies,  (not 
always  at  safe  distance  from  dangerous  errors)  the  oldest  uninspired  wri- 
ters of  the  christian  church  were  seduced  by  this  passion  of  transmuting, 
without  scriptural  authority,  incidents,  names,  and  even  mere  sounds  of 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  into  evangelical  types  and  correspondencies. 

An  additional  reason  may  perhaps  occur  to  those  who  alone  would  be 
qualified  to  appreciate  its  force  :  viz.  to  biblical  scholars  familiar  with  the 
opinions  and  arguments  of  sundry  doctors,  rabbinical  as  well  aa  christian, 
respecting  the  first  and  second  chapter  of  Jonali. 

[C] 

Reason  and  Religion  differ  only  as  a  two-fold  application  of  the  same 
power.  But  if  we  are  obliged  to  disthiguish,  we  must  ideally  separate.  In 
this  sense  I  aflirm,  that  Reason  is  the  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  Whoxe 
considered  as  OiNE  :  and  as  such  it  is  contradistinguished  from  the  Under- 
standing, which  concerns  itself  exclusively  with  the  quantities,  qualities, 
and  relations  of  particulars  in  time  and  space.  The  Understandijvg, 
therefore,  is  the  science  of  phaenomena,  and  then-  subsumption  under  dis- 
tinct kinds  and  sorts,  {genus  and  species.)  Its  functions  supply  the  rules 
and  constitute  the  possibility  of  Experience  ;  but  remain  mere  logical 
forms,  except  as  far  as  matejials  are  given  by  the  senses  or  sensations.  The 
Reaso.n,  on  the   other  hand,  is  the   science  of  the  universal,  having  the 


372  AIDS  TO   RErLECTION. 

ideas  of  0:ve?jess  and  Allness  as  its   two  elements  or  primary  factors. 
In  the  language  of  the  old  schools, 

Unity      -|-      Omneity 
Totality. 


The  Reason  fii"st  manifests  itself  in  man  by  the  tendency  to  the  compre- 
hension of  all  as  one.  We  can  neither  rest  in  an  infinite  that  is  not  at  the 
same  time  a  whole,  nor  in  a  whole  that  is  not  infinite.  Hence  the  natu- 
ral Man  is  always  in  a  state  either  of  resistance  or  of  captivity  to  the  un- 
derstanding and  the  fancy,  which  cannot  represent  totality  without  limit : 
and  he  either  loses  the  One  in  the  striving  after  the  Infinite,  (i.  e.  Athe- 
ism with  or  without  polytheism)  or  the  Infinite  in  the  striving  after  tho 
One,  (i.  e.  anthropomorphic  monotheism.) 

The  rational  instinct,  tlicrefore,  taken  abstractedly  and  unbalanced,  did 
in  itself,  ('ye  shall  be  as  gods ;  Gen.  iii.  5.)  and  its  consequences,  '^the  lusts 
of  the  flesh,  the  eye,  and  the  understanding,  as  in  verse  the  sixth,)  form 
the  origmal  temptation,  through  which  man  fell ;  and  in-ult  ages  has  con- 
tinued to  originate  the  same,  even  from  Adam,  in  whom  we  all  fell,  to  the 
atheists  who  deified  the  human  reason  in  the  person  of  a  harlot  durhigthe 
earlier  period  of  the  French  revolution. 

To  this  tendency,  therefore.  Religion,  as  the  consideration  of  the  Par- 
ticular and  Individual  (in  which  respect  it  takes  up  and  identifies  with 
itself  the  excellence  of  the  Understanding)  but  of  the  Individual,  as  it  ex- 
ists and  has  its  being  in  the  Universal  (in  which  respect  it  is  one  with  the 
pure  Reason,)  to  this  tendency,  I  say,  Religion  assigns  the  due  limits,  and 
is  the  echo  of  the  *  voice  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the  garden.'  Hence 
in  all  the  ages  and  countries  of  civihzation.  Religion  has  been  the  parent 
and  fosterer  of  the  Fine  Arts,  as  of  Poetry,  Music,  Painting,  &c.  the  com- 
mon essence  of  which  consists  in  a  similar  union  of  the  Universal  and  the 
Individual.  In  this  union,  moreover,  is  contained  the  true  sense  of  the 
Ideal.  Under  the  old  Law  the  altar,  the  curtains,  the  priestly  vestments, 
and  whatever  else  was  to  represent  the  Beauty  of  Holiness,  had  an  ideal 
character :  and  the  Temple  itself  was  a  master-piece  of  Ideal  Beauty. 

There  exists  in  the  human  being,  at  least  in  man  fully  developed,  no 
mean  symbol  of  Tri-unity,  in  Reason,  Religion,  and  the  Will.  For  each 
of  the  three,  though  a  distinct  agency,  implies  and  demands  the  other  two, 
and  loses  its  own  nature  at  the  moment  that  fiom  distinction  it  passes  into 
division  or  sei)aration.  The  perfect  frame  of  a  man  is  the  perfect  frame 
«of  a  state  ;  and  in  the  light   of  this  idea  we  must  read  Plato's  Republic. 


APPENDIX.  373 

For,   if  I  judge  rightly,  this  celebrated  work  is  to  ',The  Hisitoiy  of  the 
Town  of  Man-soul,'  what  Plato  was  to  John  Bunyan. 

The  comprehension,  impartiality,  and  far-sightedness  of  Reason,  (the 
Legislative  of  our  nature,)  taken  singly  and  exclusively,  becomes  mere 
visionariness  in  intellect,  and  indolence  or  hard-heartedness  in  morals.  It 
is  the  science  of  cosmopolitism  without  countiy,  of  philanthropy  without 
neighbourliness  or  consanguinity,  in  short,  of  all  the  impostures  of  that  phi- 
losophy of  the  French  revolution,  which  would  sacrifice  Each  to  theshad- 
o^vy  idol  of  All.  For  Jacobinism  is  monstrum  hybridum,  made  up  in  part 
of  despotism,  and  in  part  of  abstract  reason  misa})plied  to  objects  that  be- 
long entirely  to  experience  and  the  understanding.  Its  instincts  and  mode 
of  action  are  in  strict  con-espondence  with  its  origin.  In  all  places  Jaco- 
binism betrays  its  mixt  parentage  and  nature,  by  applying  to  the  bmte  pas- 
sions and  physical  force  of  the  multitude  (that  is,  to  man  as  a  mere  ani- 
mal,) in  order  to  build  up  government  and  the  fi-ame  of  society  on  natural 
rights  instead  of  social  privileges — on  the  universals  of  abstract  reason  in- 
stead of  positive  institutions,  the  lights  of  specific  experience,  and  the 
modifications  of  existing  circumstances.  Right,  in  its  most  proper  sense, 
is  the  creature  of  law  and  statute,  and  only  in  the  technical  language  of 
the  courts  has  it  any  substantial  and  independent  sense.  In  morals.  Right 
is  a  word  without  meaning  except  as  the  correlative  of  Duty. 

From  all  this  it  follows,  that  Reason  as  the  science  of  All  as  the  Whole, 
must  be  interpenetrated  by  a  Power,  that  represents  the  concentration  of 
All  in  Each — a  Power  that  acts  by  a  contraction  of  universal  trutlis  into 
individual  duties,  as  the  only  form  in  which  those  truths  can  attain  life  and 
reality.  Now  tliis  is  Religion,  which  is  the  Executive  of  our  nature, 
and  on  tliis  account  the  name  of  highest  dignity,  and  tlie  symbol  of  sove- 
reignty. 

Yet  this  again — yet  even  Religion  itself,  if  ever  in  its  too  exclusive  de- 
votion to  the  specific  and  individual  it  neglects  to  interjjose  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  universal,  changes  its  being  into  Superstition  ;  and  becoming 
more  and  more  earthly  and  sen  ile,  as  more  and  more  estranged  from  the 
one  in  all,  goes  wandering  at  length  with  its  pack  of  amulets,  bead-rolls, 
periapts,  fetisches,  and  the  like  pedlary,  on  pilgrimages  to  Loretto,  Mec- 
ca, or  the  temple  of  Juggernaut,  arm  in  arm  with  sensuality  on  one  side 
and  self-torture  on  the  other,  followed  by  a  motley  group  of  friars,  pardon- 
ers, faquirs,  gamesters,  flagellants,  mountebanks,  and  harlots. 

But  neither  can  reason  or  religion  exist  or  co-exist  as  reason  and  reli- 
gion, except  as  far  as  they  are  actuated  by  the  Will,  (the  platonic  0i,uoc,) 
which  is  the  sustaining,  coercive  and  ministerial  power,  the  ftinctions  of 
which  in  the  individual  correspond  to  the  oflicers  of  war  and  police  in  the 
ideal  Republic  of  Plato.  In  its  state  of  immanence  (or  indwelling)  in  rea- 
son and  religion,  the  Will  a])pear3  indiflerently,  as  wisdom  or  as  love  : 
two  names   of  the   same  power,   the  tbrmer  more  intelligential,  the  latter 


374  AIDS    TO    REFl.ECTION. 

more  yi)iritual ;  the  former  more  frequent  in  the  Old.  the'latter  in  tlie  New 
TePtunient.  But  in  its  utmost  abstraction  and  consequent  state  of  repro- 
bation, the  Will  becomes  satanic  pride  and  reliellious  self-idolatry  in  the 
relations  of  the  sj)irit  to  itself,  and  remorseless  despotism  relatively  to  oth- 
ers ;  the  more  ho])eless  as  the  more  obdurate  by  its  sulvjugation  of  sensual 
impulses — by  its  superiority  to  toil  and  pain  and  pleasure ;  in  short,  by  the 
fearful  resolve  to  find  in  itself  alone  the  one  absolute  motive  of  action, 
imder  which  all  other  motives  from  within  and  from  without  must  be  ei- 
ther subordinated  or  crushed. 

This  is  the  character  which  Milton  has  so  philosophically  as  well  as  sub- 
limely embodied  in  the  Satan  of  his  Paradise  Lost.  Alas!  too  often  has 
it  been  embodied  in  I'eal  life  !  Too  often  has  it  given  a  dark  and  savage 
grandeur  to  the  historic  page !  And  wherever  it  has  appeared,  under 
whatever  circumstances  of  time  and  country,  the  same  ingredients  have 
gone  to  its  composition ;  and  it  has  been  identified  by  the  same  attributes. 
Hope  in  which  there  is  no  Cheerfulness  ;  Stedfastness  within  and  immo- 
vable Resolve,  with  outward  Restlessness  and  whirling  Activity  ;  Violence 
with  Guile  ;  Temerity  with  Cimning ;  and  as  the  result  of  all,  Intermina- 
bleness  of  Object  with  perfect  indifference  of  Means  ;  these  are  the  (jual- 
ities  that  have  constituted  the  Commanding  Genius  !  these  are  the  Marks, 
that  have  characterized  the  Masters  of  Mischief,  the  Liberticides,  and  migh- 
ty Hunters  of  Mankind,  from  Nlmrod  to  Napoleon.  And  from  inattention 
to  the  possibility  of  such  a  character  as  well  as  from  ignorance  of  its  ele- 
ments, even  men  of  honest  intentions  too  frequently  become  fascinated. 
Nay,  whole  nations  have  been  so  far  duped  by  this  want  of  hisight  and 
reflection  as  to  regard  with  palliative  admiration,  instead  of  wonder  and 
abhorrence,  the  Molochs  of  human  nature,  who  are  indebted,  for  the  far 
larger  portion  of  their  meteoric  success,  to  their  total  want  of  principle, 
and  who  surpass  the  generality  of  their  fellow  creatures  in  one  act  of  cour- 
age only,  that  of  daring  to  say  with  their  whole  heart,  '  Evil  be  thou  my 
good !'  All  system  so  far  is  power ;  and  a  systematic  ci-iminal,  self-consist- 
ent and  entire  in  wickedness,  who  entrenches  villainy  within  villainy,  and 
barricadoes  crime  by  crime,  has  removed  a  world  of  obstacles  by  the  mere 
decision,  that  he  will  have  no  obstacles,  but  those  of  force  and  brute  mat- 
ter. 

I  have  only  to  add  a  few  sentences,  in  completion  of  this  note,  on  the 
Conscience  and  on  the  Understanding.  The  conscience  is  neither  rea- 
son, religion,  or  will,  but  an  expeiience  (sui  generis)  of  the  coincidence  of 
the  human  will  with  reason  and  rehgion.  It  might,  perhaps,  be  called  a 
spiritual  sensalion  ;  but  that  there  lurks  a  contradiction  in  the  terms,  and 
that  it  is  often  deceptive  to  give  a  common  or  generic  name  to  that,  which 
being  unique,  can  have  no  fair  analogy.  Strictly  speaking,  therefore,  the 
conscience  is  neither  a  sensation  or  a  sense ;  but  a  testifying  state,  best  de- 
scribed in  the  words  of  our  liturgy,  as  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth 

ALL  UNDERSTANDING. 


APPENDIX.  oiiJ 

Of  this  latter  faculty,  considered  in  and  of  itself,  the  peripatetic  aphorism, 
nihil  in  intellectu  quod  non  prius  in  sensu,  is  strictl}-  true,  as  well  as  the 
legal  maxim,  de  rehus  non  apparentibus  et  non  existentibus  eadem  est 
ratio.  The  eye  is  not  more  inappropriate  to  sound,  than  the  mere  under- 
standing to  the  modes  and  laws  of  spiritual  existence.  In  tliis  sense  I 
have  used  the  term  ;  and  in  this  sense  I  assert  that  "  the  understanding  or 
experimental  faculty,  unirradiated  by  the  reason  and  the  spirit,  has  no  ap- 
propriate object  but  the  material  world  in  relation  to  our  wordly  interests. 
The  far-sighted  prudence  of  man,  and  the  more  narrow  but  at  the  same 
time  far  less  fallible  cunning  of  the  fox,  are  both  no  other  than  a  nobler 
substitute  for  salt,  in  order  that  the  hog  may  not  putrefy  before  its  destined 
hour ! !      Friend,  p.  80. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  overlooked,  that  this  insulation  of  the  under- 
standing is  our  own  act  and  deed.  The  man  of  healthful  and  undivided 
intellect  uses  his  understanding  in  this  state  of  abstraction  only  as  a  tool 
or  organ :  even  as  the  arithmetician  uses  numbers,  that  is,  as  the  means 
not  the  end  of  knowledge.  Our  Shakespeare  in  agreement  both  with 
truth  and  the  philosophy  of  his  age  names  it  ^^  discourse  of  reason,"  as  an 
instrumental  faculty  belonging  to  reason :  and  IMilton  opposes  the  discursive 
to  the  intuitive,  as  the  lower  to  the  higher, 

"  Differing  but  in  degree,  in  kind  the  same  !" 

Of  the  discw'sive  understanding,  which  forms  for  itself  general  notions 
and  terms  of  classification  for  the  purpose  of  comparing  and  arrang- 
ing phaenomena,  the  Characteristic  is  Clearness  without  Depth.  It  con- 
templates the  unity  of  things  in  their  limits  only,  and  is  consequent- 
ly a  knowledge  of  superficies  without  substance.  So  much  so,  mdeed, 
that  it  entangles  itself  in  contradictions  in  the  veiy  effort  of  comprehend- 
ing the  idea  of  substance.  The  completing  power  which  unites  clearness 
with  depth,  the  plenitude  of  the  sense  with  the  comprehensibility  of  the 
understanding,  is  the  imagination,  impregnated  with  which  the  under- 
standmg  itself  becomes  intuitive,  and  a  living  power.  The  reason,  (not 
the  abstract  reason,  not  the  reason  as  the  mere  organ  of  science,  or  as  the 
faculty  of  scientific  principles  and  schemes  a  priori ;  but  reason)  as  the 
integral  spirit  of  the  regenerated  man,  reason  substantiated  and  vital, 'one 
only,  yet  manifold,  overseeing  all,  and  going  through  all  understanding ; 
the  breath  of  the  power  of  God,  and  a  pure  influence  fi-om  the  glory  of 
the  Ahnighty ;  which  remaining  in  itself  regenerateth  all  other  powers, 
and  in  all  ages  entering  into  holy  souls  maketh  them  friends  of  God  and 
prophets;'  (Wisdom  of  Solomon,  c.  vii.)  the  Reason,  without  being  either 
the  Sense,  the  Understanding  or  the  Imagination,  contains  all  three  with- 
in itself,  even  as  the  mind  contains  its  thoughts,  and  is  i)resent  in  and 
through  them  all ;  or  as  the  expression  pervades  the  different  features  of 
an  intelhgent  countenance.  Each  individual  must  bear  witness  of  it  to 
his  own  mind,  even  as  he  describes  life  and  linht :  and  with  the  silence  of 


376  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

light  it  describes  itself,  and  dwells  in  us  only  as  far  as  we  dwell  in  U.  It 
cannot  in  strict  language  be  called  a  faculty,  much  less  a  personal  proper- 
ty, of  any  human  mind !  He,  with  whom  it  is  present,  can  as  little  appro- 
priate it,  whether  totally  or  by  partition,  as  he  can  claim  ownership  in 
tlie  breathing  air  or  make  an  inclosure  in  the  cope  of  heaven. 

The  object  of  the  preceding  discourse  was  to  recommend  the  Bible,  ns 
the  end  and  center  of  our  readin^g  and  meditation.     I  can  truly  affirm  of 
myself,  tliat  my  studies  have  been  profitable  and  availing  to  me  only  so  far, 
aa  I  have  endeavored  to  use  all  my  other  knowledge  as  a  glass  enabling  me 
te  receive  more  light  in  a  wider  field  of  vision  from  the  word  of  God.     If 
you  have  accompanied  me  thus  far,  thoughtful  reader  !     let   it  not  weary 
you  if  I  digress  for  a  few  moments  to  another  book,  likewise  a  revelation 
of  God — the  great  book  of  his  servant  Nature.     That  in  its  obvious  sense 
and  literal  interpretation  it  declares  the  being  and  attributes  of  the  Ahnigh- 
ty  Father,  none  but  the  fool  in  lieart  has  ever  dared  gainsay.     But  it  has 
been  the   music  of  gentle  and  pious  minds  in  all  ages,  it  is  the   poetry  of 
all  human  nature,  to  read  it  likewise  in  a  figurative  sense,  and  to  find  there- 
in correspondencies  and  symbols  of  the  spiritual  world. 

I  h  ave  at  this  moment  before  me,   in  the  flowery  meadow,   on  which 
my  eye   is  now  reposing,  one   of  its  most  soothing  chapters,  in  which 
there  is  no  lamenting  word,  no  one  character  of  guilt  or  anguish.    For 
never  can  I  look  and  meditate  on  the  vegetable  creation  without  a  feeling 
similar  to  that  with  which  we  gaze  at  a  beautiful  infant  that  has  fed  itself 
asleep   at  its  mother's  bosom,  and  smiles  in  its  strange  dream  of  obscure 
yet  happy  sensations.     The  same  tender  and  genial  pleasure  takes  posses- 
sion of  me,   and  this  pleasure  is  checked  and  dra^vn  inward  by  the  like 
aching  melancholy,  by  the  same  whispered  remonstrance,  and  made  rest- 
less by  a   similar  impulse  of  aspiration.     It  seems  as  if  the  soul  said  to 
herself:  from  this  state  hast  thou  fallen !     Such  shouldst  thou  still  become, 
thy  Self  all  permeable  to  a  holier  power !  thy  Self  at  once  hidden  and 
glorified  by  its  own  transparency,  as   the  accidental  and  dividuous  in  this 
quiet  and  harmonious  object  is   subjected  to  the  life  and  light  of  nature 
which  shines  in  it,  even  as  the  transmitted  power,  love  and  wisdom,   of 
God  over  all  fills,  and  shines  through,  nature !     But  what  the  plant  w,  by 
an  act  not  its  own  and  unconsciously — that  must  thou  make  thyself  to  he- 
come  !  must  by  prayer  and  by  a  watchful  and  unresisting  spirit,  join  at 
least  with  the  preventive  and  assisting  grace  to  make  thyself,  in  that  light 
of  conscience  which  inflameth  not,   and  with  that  knowledge  which  puf- 
feth  not  up. 

But  further,  and  with  particular  reference  to  that  undivided  Reason, 
neither  merely  speculative  or  merely  practical,  but  both  in  one,  which  I 
have  in  this  aimotation  endeavoured  to  contra-distinguish  from  the  Un- 
derstanding, I  seem  to  myself  to  behold  in  the  quiet  objects,  on  which  I 
am  gazing,  more  than  an  arbitraiy  illustration,  more  than  a  mere  simile^  the 


APPENDIX.  377 

work  of  my  own  Fancy  ?  I  feel  an  awe,  as  if  tlicrc  were  before  my  eyes 
the  eame  Pow^er,  as  tJiat  of  the  Reason — tlie  same  Power  in  a  lower  dig- 
nity, and  therefore  a  symbol  established  in  the  truth  of  things.  I  feel  it 
alike,  whether  I  contemplate  a  single  ti'ee  or  flower,  or  meditate  on  vege- 
tation throughout  the  world,  as  one  of  the  great  organs  of  the  life  of  na- 
ture. Lo ! — with  the  rising  sun  it  commences  its  outward  life  and  enters 
into  open  commimion  with  all  the  elements,  at  once  assimilating  them  to 
itself  and  to  each  other.  At  the  same  moment  it  strikes  its  roots  and  un- 
folds its  leaves,  absorbs  and  respires,  steams  forth  its  coohng  vapour  and 
finer  fi-agrance,  and  breathes  a  repairing  spirit,  at  once  the  food  and  tone 
of  tlie  atmosphere,  into  the  atmosphere  that  feeds  it.  Lo ! — at  the  touch 
of  light  how  it  returns  an  air  akin  to  light,  and  yet  with  the  eame  pulse 
effectuates  its  own  secret  growth,  still  contracting  to  fix  what  expanding  it 
had  refined.  Lo ! — how  upholding  the  ceaseless  plastic  motion  of  the 
paits  in  the  profoundest  rest  of  the  whole  it  becomes  the  visible  organis- 
mus  of  the  whole  sUent  or  elementary  Ufa  of  nature,  and,  therefore,  in  in- 
corporating the  one  extreme  becomes  the  symbol  of  the  other ;  the  natural 
symbol  of  that  higher  life  of  reason,  in  which  tlie  whole  series  (knowii  to 
us  in  our  present  state  of  being)  is  perfected,  in  which,  therefore,  all  the 
subordinate  gradations  recur,  and  are  re-ordained  "in  more  abundant  hon- 
or." We  had  seen  each  in  its  own  cast,  and  we  now  recognize  them  all 
as  co-existing  in  the  unity  of  a  higher  fomi,  the  Crown  and  Completion 
of  the  Earthly,  and  the  Mediator  of  a  new  and  heavenly  series.  Thus, 
finally,  the  vegetable  creation,  in  the  simplicity  and  uniformity  of  its  in- 
ternal structure  symbolizing  the  unity  of  nature,  while  it  represents  the 
omnifoniiit)'^  of  her  delegated  functions  in  its  external  variety  and  mani- 
foldness,  becomes  the  record  and  chronicle  of  her  ministerial  acts,  and  in- 
chases  the  vast  unfolded  volume  of  the  earth  with  the  hieroglyphics  of  her 
histoiy. 

O  ! — if  as  the  plant  to  the  orient  beam,  we  would  but  open  out  our  minds 
to  that  hoHer  hght,  which  '  being  compared  with  hght  is  found  before  it, 
more  beautiful  than  the  sun,  and  above  all  the  order  of  stars,'  (Wisdom  of 
Solomon,  vii.  29,)ungenial,  ahen,  and  adverse  to  our  very  nature  would  ap- 
pear the  boastful  wisdom  which,  beginning  in  France,  gradually  tampered 
with  the  taste  and  hterature  of  all  the  most  civilized  natinos  of  Christendom, 
seducing  the  understanding  from  its  natural  allegiance,  and  therewith  from 
all  its  own  lawful  claims,  titles,  and  privileges.  It  was  placed  as  a  ward  of 
honour  in  the  courts  of  faith  and  reason  ;  but  it  chose  to  dwell  alone,  and  be- 
came an  harlot  by  the  way-side.  Tlie  commercial  spirit,  and  the  ascen- 
dancy of  the  experimental  philosophy  which  took  place  at  the  close  of  the 
fouiteenth  century,  though  both  good  and  beneficial  in  their  own  kinds, 
combined  to  foster  its  corruption.  Flattered  and  dazzled  by  the  real  or 
supposed  discoveries,  which  it  had  made,  the  more  the  understanding  was 
enriched,  the  more  did  it  become  debased  ;  till  science  itself  put  on  a  self- 

48 


378  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

isli  and  sensual  character  ;  and  immediate  utility,  in  exclusive  reference  to 
the  gratification  of  the  wants  and  appetites  of  the  animal,  the  vanities  and 
caprices  of  the  social,  and  the  ambition  of  the  political,  man,  was  imposed 
as  the  test  of  all  intellectual  powers  and  pursuits.  Worth  was  degraded 
into  a  lazy  synonyme  of  value  ;  and  value  was  exclusively  attached  to  the 
interest  of  the  senses.  But  though  the  growing  alienation  and  self-suffi- 
ciency of  the  understanding  was  perceptible  at  an  earlier  period,  yet  it 
seems  to  have  been  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Voltaire,  D'Alembert,  Diderot,  say  generally  of  the  so-called  En- 
cyclopsedists,  and  alas ! — of  their  crowned  ])roselytes  and  disciples,  Fred- 
erick, Joseph,  and  Catharine,  that  the  Human  Understanding,  and  this  too 
in  its  narrowest  form,  was  tempted  to  throw  off  all  show  of  reverence  to 
the  spiritual  and  even  to  the  moral  powers  and  impulses  of  the  soul ;  and 
usurping  the  name  of  reason  openly  joined  the  banners  of  Anti-christ,  at 
once  the  pander  and  the  prostitute  of  sensuality,  and  whether  in  the  cabi- 
net, laboratory,  the  dissecting-room,  or  the  brothel,  alike  busy  in  the 
schemes  of  vice  and  irreligion.  Well  and  truly  might  it,  thus  personified 
in  our  fancy,  have  been  addressed  in  the  words  of  the  evangehcal  prophet, 
which  I  have  once  befoi*e  quoted  :  "  Thou  hast  said,  none  is  my  overseer ! 
thy  wisdom  and  thy  knowledge,  it  hath  peiTerted  thee  ! — and  thou  hast 
said  in  thy  heart,  I  am,  and  there  is  none  besides  me!"  (Isaiah,  xlvii. 
10.) 

Prurient,  bustling,  and  revolutionaiy,  this  French  wisdom  has  never 
more  than  grazed  the  surfaces  of  knowledge.  As  political  economy,  in  its 
zeal  for  the  increase  of  food,  it  habitually  overlooked  the  qualities  and 
even  the  sensations  of  those  that  were  to  feed  on  it^  As  ethical  philoso- 
phy, it  recognized  no  duties  which  it  could  not  reduce  into  debtor  and 
creditor  accounts  on  the  ledgers  of  self-love,  where  no  coin  was  sterling 
which  could  not  be  rendered  into  agreeable  sensations.  And  even  in  its 
height  of  self-complacency  as  chemical  art,  greatly  ami  deceived  if  it  has 
not  from  the  very  beginning  mistaken  the  products  of  destruction,  cada- 
V€ra  rerum,  for  the  elements  of  composition :  and  most  assuredly  it  has 
dearly  purchased  a  few  brilliant  inventions  at  the  loss  of  all  communion 
with  life  and  the  spirit  of  nature  As  the  process,  such  the  result !  a  heart- 
less frivolity  alternating  with  a  sentimentality  as  heartless — an  ignorant 
contempt  of  antiquity — a  neglect  of  moral  self-disciphne— a  deadening  of 
the  religious  sense,  even  in  the  less  reflecting  forms  of  natural  piety — a 
scornful  reprobation  of  all  consolations  and  secret  refreshings  fi-om  above — 
and  as  the  caput  mortuum  of  human  nature  evaporated,  a  French  nature 
of  rapacity,  levity,  ferocity  and  presumption. 

Man  of  understanding,  canst  thou  command  the  stone  to  lie,  canst  thou 
bid  the  flower  bloom,  where  thou  hast  placed  it  in  thy  classification  ? — 
Canst  thou  persuade  the  living  or  the  inaniniate  to  stand  separate  even  as 
thou  hast  separated  them  ?— And  do  not  fai'  rather  all  things  spread  out  be- 


APPENDIX.  379 

fore  thee  In  glad  confusion  and  heedless  intermixture,  even  as  a  lightsome 
chaos  on  which  the  spirit  of  God  is  moving  ? — Do  not  all  press  and  swell 
under  one  attraction,  and  live  together  in  promiscuous  harmony,  each  joy- 
ous in  its  own  kind,  and  hi  the  innnediate  neighhourhood  of  Myriad  oth- 
ers that  hi  the  system  of  thy  understanding  ai-e  distant  as  the  Poles  ? — If 
to  mint  and  to  remember  names  delight  thee,  still  anange  and  classify  and 
pore  and  pull  to  pieces,  and  peep  into  Death  to  look  for  Life,  as  monkies 
jiut  their  hands  behind  a  looking-glass!  Yet  consider,  in  the  first  sabbath 
which  thou  imposest  on  the  busy  discursion  of  thought,  that  all  this  is  at 
bestlitlle  more  than  a  technical  memory:  that  like  can  only  be  known  by 
like :  that  as  truth  is  the  correlative  of  Being,  so  is  the  act  of  Being  the 
gi'eat  organ  of  Truth :  that  in  natural  no  less  than  in  moral  science,  quan- 
tum sumus,  scimus. 

That,  which  we  find  in  ourselves,  is  (gradu  mutato)  the  substance  and 
the  hfe  of  all  our  knowledge.  Without  this  latent  presence  of  the  '  I  am,' 
all  modes  of  existence  hi  the  external  world  would  flit  before  us  as  color- 
ed shadows,  with  no  greater  depth,  root,  or  fixture,  than  the  image  of  a 
rock  hath  in  a  gliding  stream,  or  the  rain-bow  on  a  fast-sailhig  rain-storm. 
The  human  mind  is  the  compass,  in  which  the  laws  and  actuations  of  all 
outward  essences  are  revealed  as  the  dips  and  declinations.  (The  appli- 
cation of  Geometry  to  the  forces  and  movements  of  the  material  world  is 
both  proof  and  instance.)  The  fact  therefore,  that  the  mhid  of  man  in  its 
ow^n  primary  and  constituent  forms  represents  the  laws  of  nature,  is  a  mys- 
tery which  of  itself  should  sufiice  to  make  us  religious :  for  it  is  a  problem 
of  which  God  is  the  only  solution,  God,  the  one  before  all,  and  of  all,  and 
through  all ! — '  True  natural  philosophy  is  comprized  in  the  study  of  the 
science  and  language  of  symbols.''  The  power  delegated  to  nature  is  all  in 
every  part:  and  by  a  symbol  I  mean,  not  a  metaphor  or  allegory  or  any 
other  figure  of  speech  or  form  of  fancy,  l)ut  an  actual  and  essential  part  of 
that,  the  whole  of  which  it  represents.  Thus  our  Lord  speaks  symbolic- 
ally when  he  says  that '  the  eye  is  the  hght  of  the  body.'  The  genuine 
naturalist  is  a  dramatic  poet  in  his  own  line :  and  such  as  our  myriad-mind- 
ed Shakspeare  is,  compared  with  tlie  Racines  and  Metastasios,  such  and 
by  a  similar  process  of  self-transformation  would  the  man  be,  compared 
with  the  Doctors  of  the  mechanic  school,  who  should  construct  his  phys- 
iology on  the  heaven-descended.  Know  Thyself 

Even  'the  visions  of  the  night'  speak  to  us  of  powers  within  us  that  are 
not  di'eamt  of  in  their  day-dream  ot  philosophy.  The  dreams,  which  we 
most  ofl;en  remember,  are  produced  by  the  nascent  sensations  and  inward 
motiunculsB  (the  fluxions)  of  the  waking  state.  Hence,  too,  they  are  more 
capable  of  being  remembered,  because  i)assing  more  gradually  into  our 
wakhig  thoughts  they  are  more  likely  to  associate  with  our  first  percep- 
tions after  sleep.  Accordingly,  when  the  nervous  system  is  ap})roaching 
to  the  waking  state,  a  sort  of  undei -consciousness  blends  with  our  di'eams, 


360  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

that,  in  all,  we  Imagine  as  Been  or  heard,  our  own  self  is  the  ventriloquist, 
and  moves  the  slides  in  tlie  magic-lanthorn.     We  dream  about  things.' 

But  there  are  few  persons  of  tender  feelings  and  reflecting  habits,  who 
have  not,  more  or  less  often  in  the  course  of  their  lives,  experienced 
dreams  of  a  very  different  kind,  and  during  the  profoundest  sleep  that  is 
compatihle  with  after-recollection — States,  of  which  it  would  be  scarcely 
too  bold  to  say  that  we  dream  the  things  themselves ;  so  exact,  minute,  and 
vivid  beyond  all  power  of  ordinary  memory  is  the  portraiture,  so  marvel- 
lously perfect  is  our  brief  metempsychosis  into  the  very  being,  as  it  were, 
of  the  person  who  seems  to  address  us.  If  I  may  be  allowed  to  quote 
from  myself,  (FaiEi^iD,  No.  8.)  'the  dullest  wight  is  at  times  a  Shakspeare 
in  his  dreams.'  Not  only  may  we  expect,  that  men  of  strong  religious 
feelings,  but  little  religious  knowledge,  will  occasionally  be  tempted  to  re- 
gard such  occurrences  as  supernatural  visitations  ;  but  it  ought  not  to  sur- 
prise us,  if  such  dreams  should  sometimes  be  confirmed  by  the  event,  as 
though  they  had  actually  possessed  a  chai'acter  of  divination.  For  who 
shall  decide^  how  far  a  perfect  rcmiuisconce  of  past  experiences,  (of  ma- 
ny perhaps  that  ha<l  escaped  our  reflex  consciousness  at  the  time) — who 
shall  determine,  to  what  extent  this  reproductive  imagination,  unsophisti- 
cated by  the  will,  and  undistracted  by  intrusions  ftom  the  senses,  may  or 
may  not  be  concentered  and  subhmed  into  foresight  and  presentiment  ? 
There  would  be  nothing  herein  either  to  foster  superstition  on  the  one 
hand,  or  to  justify  contemptuous  disbelief  on  the  other.  Incredulity  is  but 
Credulity  seen  fi-om  behind,  bowing  and  nodding  assent  to  the  Habil^ual 
and  the  Fashionable. 

To  the  touch  (or  feeling)  belongs  the  proximate  ;  to  the  eye,  the  distant. 
Now  little  as  I  might  be  disposed  to  believe,  I  should  be  still  less  incli- 
ned to  ridicule,  the  conjecture  that  in  the  recesses  of  our  nature,  and  un- 
developed, there  might  exist  an  inner  sense,  (and  therefore  appertaining 
wholly  to  Time,) — a  sense  hitherto  '  without  a  name,'  which  as  an  higher 
Third  combined  and  potentially  included  both  the  former.  Thus  gravita- 
tion combines  and  includes  the  powers  of  attraction  and  repulsion,  which 
are  the  constituents  of  matter,  as  distinguished  from  body.  And  thus,  not 
as  a  compound,  but  as  a  higher  Third,  it  reaUzes  matter  (of  itself  ens 
fluxionale  et  pra^fluum)  and  constitutes  it  body.  Now  suppose,  that  this 
nameless  inner  sense  stood  to  the  relations  of  Time  as  the  power  of  gra- 
vitation to  those  of  Space  ?  A  priori,  a  presence  to  the  Future  is  not  more 
mysterious  or  transcendent,  than  a  presence  to  the  Distant :  than  a  power 
equally  immediate  to  the  most  remote  objects,  as  it  is  to  the  central  mass 
of  its  own  body,  toward  which  it  seems,  as  it  were,  enchanting  them :  for 
instance,  the  gravity  in  the  sun  and  moon  to  the  spring  tides  of  our  ocean. 
The  true  reply  to  such  an  hyjiothesis  would  be,  that  as  there  is  nothing  to 
be  said  against  i\a possibilili/,  there  is,  hkewise,  nothing  to  be  urged  for  its 
realitij  ,*  and  tliat  the  facts  may  be  rationally  explained  without  it. 


APPENDIX.  381 

It  has  been  asked,  why  knowmg  myself  to  be  the  object  of  pei-sonal 
slander,  (slander  as  unprovoked  as  it  is  groundless,  unless  acts  of  kindness 
are  provocation)  I  furnish  tliis  material  for  it,  by  pleading  in  palliation  of 
BO  chimerical  a  fancy.  With  that  half-playful  sadness,  which  at  once  sighs 
and  smiles,  I  answered  :  why  not  for  that  very  reason  ? — viz.  in  order  that 
my  calumniator  might  have,  if  not  a  material,  yet  some  basis  for  the  poi- 
son-gas of  his  invention  to  combine  with  ? — But  no, — pure  falsehood  is 
often  for  the  time  the  most  effective  ;  for  how  can  a  man  confute  what  he 
can  only  contradict  ? — Our  opinions  and  principles  cannot  prove  an  alibi. 
Think  only  what  your  feelings  would  be  if  you  heard  a  wretch  dehberate- 
ly  peijure  hunself  in  support  of  an  infamous  accusation,  so  remote  from 
all  fact,  so  smooth  and  homogeneous  in  its  untruth,  such  a  round  robin  of 
mere  lies,  that  you  knew  not  which  to  begin  with  ? — What  could  you  do, 
but  look  round  with  horror  and  astonishment,  ])leading  silently  to  human 
nature  itself, — and  perhaps  (as  hath  really  been  the  case  with  me)  forget 
both  the  slanderer  and  his  slander  in  the  anguish  mflicted  by  the  passive- 
ness  of  your  many  professed  fiiends,  whose  characters  you  had  ever  been 
as  eager  to  clear  from  the  least  stain  of  reproach  as  if  a  coal  of  fii'e  had 
been  on  your  own  skin  ? — But  enough  of  this  which  would  not  have  oc- 
curred to  me  at  all,  at  this  time,  had  it  not  been  thus  suggested. 

The  feeling,  that  in  point  of  fact  chiefly  influenced  me  in  the  preceding 
half  apology  for  the  supposition  of  a  divining  power  in  the  hiunan  mind, 
arose  out  of  the  conviction,  that  an  age,  or  nation,  may  become  free  from 
certain  prejudices,  beliefs,  and  superstitious  practices  in  two  ways.  It  may 
have  really  risen  above  them  ;  or  it  may  have  fallen  below  them,  and  be- 
come too  bad  for  their  continuance.  "  The  rustic  would  have  little  reason 
to  thank  the  philosopher,  who  should  give  him  true  conceptions  of  ghosts, 
omens,  dreams,  and  presentiments  at  the  price  of  abandoning  his  faith  in 
Providence  and  in  the  continued  existence  of  his  fellow-creatures  after 
their  death.  The  teeth  of  the  old  serpent  sowed  by  the  Cadmuses  of 
French  hterature  under  Lewis  xv.  produced  a  plenteous  crop  of  such  phi- 
losophers and  truth-trumpeters  in  the  reign  of  his  ill-fated  successor. 
They  taught  many  facts,  historical,  political,  physiological,  and  ecclesias- 
tical, difflising  then'  notions  so  widely  that  the  very  ladies  and  hair-dres- 
sers of  Paris  became  fluent  encyclopaedists ;  and  the  sole  price,  which 
their  scholars  paid  for  these  treasures  of  new  light,  was  to  believe  Christi- 
anity an  imposture,  the  Scriptures  a  forgery,  the  worship  of  God  super- 
stition, hell  a  fable,  heaven  a  dream,  our  life  without  Providence,  and  our 
death  without  hope.  Wliat  can  be  conceived  more  natural  than  the  re- 
sult :  that  self-acknowledged  beasts  should  fii-st  act,  and  next  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  treated,  as  beasts  ?"    (Friend,  p.  41.) 

Thank  heaven ! — notwithstanding  the  attempts  of  Mr.  Thomas  Payne 
and  his  compeers,  it  is  not  so  bad  with  us.  Open  infidelity  has  ceased  to 
be  a  means  even  of  gratifying  vanity ;  for  the  leaders  of  the  gang  them- 


383  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

selves  turned  apostates  to  Satan,  as  soon  els  the  number  of  their  Proselytes 
became  so  large,  that  Atheism  ceased  to  give  distinction.  Nay,  it  became 
a  mark  of  original  thinking  to  defend  the  Behef  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments :  so  the  strong  minds  veered  round,  and  religion  came  again  into 
feshion.  But  still  I  exceedingly  doubt,  whether  the  superannuation  of  sun- 
dry superstitious  fancies  be  the  result  of  any  real  diffusion  of  sound  think- 
ing in  the  nation  at  large.  For  instance,  there  is  now  no  call  for  a  Picus 
Mirandula  to  write  seven  books  against  Astrology.  It  might  seem  indeed, 
that  a  single  fact  like  that  of  the  loss  of  Kempcnfelt  and  his  crew,  or  the 
explosion  of  the  L'Orient,  would  prove  to  the  common  sense  of  the  most 
ignorant,  that  even  if  Astrology  could  be  true,  the  Astrologers  must  be 
false  ;  for  if  such  a  science  were  possible  it  could  be  a  science  only  for 
gods.  Yet  Erasmus,  the  prince  of  sound  common  sense,  is  known  to  have 
disapproved  of  his  friend's  hardihood,  and  did  not  himself  venture  beyond 
scepticism :  and  the  inmiortal  Newton,  to  whom,  more  than  to  any  other 
human  being,  Europe  owes  the  purification  of  its  general  notions  concern- 
ing the  heavenly  bodies,  studied  Astrology  with  much  earnestness  and  did 
not  reject  it  till  he  had  demonstrated  the  falsehood  of  all  its  pretended 
grounds  and  principles.  The  exit  of  two  or  three  superstitions  is  no  more 
a  proof  of  the  entry  of  good  sense,  than  the  strangling  of  a  Despot  at  Al- 
giers or  Constantinople  is  a  symptom  of  freedom.  If  therefore  not  the 
mere  disbelief,  but  the  grounds  of  such  disbefief,  must  decide  the  question 
of  our  superior  illiunination,  I  confess  that  I  could  not  from  my  own  ob- 
servations on  the  books  and  conversation  of  the  age  vote  for  the  affirma- 
tive without  much  hesitation.  As  many  errors  are  despised  by  men  from 
ignorance  as  from  knowledge.  Whether  that  be  not  the  case  with  regard 
to  divination^  is  a  query  that  rises  in  my  mind  (notwithstanding  my  fullest 
conviction  of  the  non-existence  of  such  a  power)  as  often  as  I  read  the 
names  of  the  gi'eat  statesmen  and  philosophers,  which  Cicero  enumerates 
in  the  introductory  paragraphs  of  his  work  de  Divinatione.  Socrates, 
omnesque  Socratici,  plurimisque  locis  gravis  Auctor  Democritus,  Cratip- 
pusque,  familiaiis  noster,  quem  ego  parem  sunnnis  Peripateticis  judico,  &c. 
&c.  prsesensionem  rerum  futurarum  comprobarunt.  Of  all  the  theistic 
philosophers,  Xenophanes  was  the  only  one  who  wholly  rejected  it.  *A 
Stoicis  degenerat  Pansetius,  nee  tamen  ausus  est  negare,  vim  esse  divinan- 
di,  sed  dubitare  se  dixit.'  Nor  was  this  a  mere  outward  assent  to  the 
opinions  of  the  state.  Many  of  them  subjected  the  question  to  the  most 
exquisite  arguments,  and  supported  the  affirmative  not  merely  by  experi- 
ence, but  (especially  the  Stoics,  wiio  of  all  sects  most  cultivated  psychol- 
ogy) by  a  minute  analysis  of  human  nature  and  its  faculties :  while  on  the 
mind  of  Cicero  himself  (as  on  that  of  Plato  with  regard  to  a  state  of  ret- 
ribution after  death)  the  universality  of  the  faith  in  all  thnes  and  countries 
ai)pears  to  have  made  the  deepest  impression.  '  Gentem  quidem  nullam 
video,  neque  tam   hiunanam  alque  doctam,   ne(|ue  tarn   inimmiem   tam- 


APPENDIX. 


383 


que  barbaram,  quee  non  significari  futura,  ei  a  quibusdam  intelligi  prte^lici- 
que  posse  censeat.' 

I  fear,  that  the  decrease  in  our  feelings  of  reverence  towards  mankind 
at  large,   and  our  increasing  aversion  to  every  opinion  not  grounded   in 
some  appeal  to  the  senses,  have   a  larger  share  in  this  our  emancipation 
from  the  prejudices  of  Socrates  and  Cicero,  than  reflection,  insight,  or  a 
fair  collation  of  the  facts  and  arguments.     For  myself,  I  would  far  rather 
see  the  Enghsh  people  at  large  believe  somewhat  too  much  than  merely 
just  enough,  if  tlie  latter  is  to  be  produced,  or  must  be  accompanied,  by  a 
contempt   or  neglect  of  the  faith  and  intellect  of  their  forefathers.     For 
not  to  say  what  yet  is  most  certain,  that  a  people  cannot  believe  jWenow^^, 
and  that  there  are   errors   which  no  wise   man  will  treat  with  rudeness, 
while  there  is  a  probability  that  they  may  be  the  refraction  of  some  great 
truth  as  yet  below  the  horizon ;  it  remains  most  worthy  of  our  serious  con- 
sideration, whether  a  fancied  superiority  to  their  ancestors'  intellects  must 
not  be  speedily  followed  in  the  popular  mind  by  disrespect  for  their  an- 
cestors' institutions.     Assuredly  it  is  not  easy  to  place  any  confidence  in  a 
form  .of  church  or  state,  of  whose  founders  we  have  been  taught  to  be- 
lieve, that  their  philosophy  was  jargon,  and  their  feelings  and  notions  rank 
superstition.     Yet  are  we  never  to  grow  wiser  ? — Are  we  to  be  credulous 
by  birth-right,  and  take  ghosts,  omens,  visions,  and  witchcraft,  as  an  heir- 
loom ? — God  forbid  ! — A  distinction  must  be  made,  and  such  a  one  as  shall 
be  equally  avaihng  and  profitable  to  men  of  all  ranks.  Is  this  practicable  ? 
Yes ! — it  exists.  It  is  found  in  the  study  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  if 
only  it  be  combined  with  a  spu'itual  partaking  of  the  Redeemer's  Blood,  of 
which,  mysterious  as  the  symbol  may  be,  the  sacramental  Wine  is  no  mere, 
or  arbitrary,  memento.     This  is  the  only  certain,  and  this  is  the  universal, 
preventive  of  all   debasing  superstitions ;  this  is  the  true  H^mony,  [cn^iocy 
blood:  oivog,  wine)  which  our  Milton  has  beautifully  allegorized  in  a  pas- 
sage strangely  overlooked  by  all  his  commentators.     Bear  in  mind.  Read- 
er !  the  character  of  a  militant  christian,  and  the  results  (in  this  life  and  in 
the  next)  of  tlie  Redemption  by  the  Blood  of  Christ :  and  so  peruse  the 


passage  ! 


Amongst  the  rest  a  small  unsightly  root, 

But  of  divine  effect,  he  culled  me  out : 

The  leaf  was  darkish,  and  had  prickles  on  it, 

But  in  another  country,  as  he  said, 

Bore  a  bright  golden  flower,  but  not  in  this  soil ! 

Unknown  and  like  esteem'd,  and  the  dull  swain 

Treads  on  it  daily  with  his  clouted  shoon ; 

And  yet  more  med'cinal  is  it  than  that  moly 

That  Hermes  once  to  wise  Ulysses  gave. 

He  called  it  H^mony  and  gave  it  me. 

And  bad  me  keep  it  as  of  sovr'an  use 


384  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

'Gainst  all  inchantments,  mildew,  blast  or  damp, 

Or  ghastly  furies'  appai'ition.  MiUon^s  Comus, 

These  Hues  might  be  employed  as  an  amulet  against  delusions :  for  the 
man,  who  is  indeed  a  christian,  will  as  little  think  of  mforming  himself 
concerning  the  future  by  dreams  or  presentiments,  as  of  looking  for  a  dist- 
ant object  at  broad  noon-day  with  a  lighted  taper  in  his  hand. 

But  whatever  of  good  and  intellectual  Nature  worketh  in  us,  it  is  our 
appointed  task  to  render  gradually  our  own  work.  For  all  tilings  that  sur- 
round us,  and  all  things  that  happen  unto  us,  have  (each  doubtless  its  own 
providential  purpose,  but)  all  one  common  final  cause :  namely,  the  in- 
crease of  Consciousness,  in  such  wise,  that  whatever  part  of  the  ten'a  in- 
cognita of  our  nature  the  increased  consciousness  discovers,  our  will  may 
conquer  and  bring  into  subjection  to  itself  under  the  sovereignty  of  rea- 
son. 

The  leading  differences  between  mechanic  and  vital  philosophy  may  all 
be  drawn  from  one  point :  namely,  that  the  former  demanding  for  every 
mode  and  act  of  existence  real  or  possible  visibility,  knows  only  of  dis- 
tance and  nearness,  composition  (or  rather  juxta  position)  and  decomposi- 
tion, in  short  the  relations  of  unproductive  particles  to  each  other ;  so  that 
in  eveiy  instance  the  result  is  the  exact  sum  of  the  component  quantities, 
as  in  arithmetical  addition.  This  is  the  philosophy  of  death,  and  only  of 
a  dead  nature  can  it  hold  good.  In  life,  much  more  in  spirit,  and  in  a  liv- 
ing and  spiritual  philosophy,  the  two  component  counter-powers  actually 
interpenetrate  each  other,  and  generate  a  higher  third,  including  both  the 
former,  ita  tamen  ut  sit  alia  et  major. 

To  apply  this  to  the  subject  of  this  present  Essay.  The  elements  (the 
factors,  as  it  were)  of  Religion  are  Reason  and  Understanding.  If  the 
composition  stopped  in  itself,  an  understanding  thus  rationalized  would 
lead  to  the  admission  of  the  general  doctrines  of  natin-al  religion,  the  be- 
lief of  a  God,  and  of  immortality ;  and  probably  to  an  acquiescence  in 
the  history  and  ethics  of  the  Gospel.  But  still  it  would  be  a  speculative 
faith,  and  in  the  nature  of  a  Theory;  as  if  the  main  object  of  religion 
were  to  solve  difficulties  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  intellect.  Now  this  state 
of  mind,  which  alas !  is  the  state  of  too  many  among  our  self-entitled  ra- 
tional religionists,  is  a  mere  balance  or  compromise  of  the  two  powers,  not 
that  living  and  generative  interpenetration  of  both  which  would  give  be- 
ing to  essential  Religion — to  the  Religion,  at  the  biith  of  which  'we  re- 
ceive the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry  Abba,  Father ;  the  Spirit 
itself  bearing  witness  with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God.' 
(Rom.  viii.  15,  16.)  In  Religion  there  is  no  abstraction.  To  the  unity 
and  infinity  of  the  Divine  Nature,  of  which  it  is  the  partaker,  it  adds  the 
fiillness,  and  to  the  fullness  the  grace  and  the  creative  overflowing.  That 
which  intuitively  it  at  once  beholds  and  adores,  praying  always,  and  re- 
joicing always — that  dodi  it  tend  to  becom-e.    In  all  things  and  in  each 


APPENDIX.  385 

thing — for  the  Almighty  Goodness  doth  not  create  generalities  or  abide  in 
absti-actions — ^in  each,  the  meanest,  object  it  bears    witness  to  a  mystery 
of  infinite  solution.    Thus  *  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
it  is   changed  into  tlie  same  image  from  glory  to  gloiy.'     (2  Cor.  iii.  18.) 
For  as  it  is  bom  and  not  made,  so  must  it  gj'ow.     As  it  is  the  image  or 
symbol  of  its  great  object,  by  the  organ  of  this  similitude,  as  by  an  eye,  it 
seeth  that  same  image  throughout  the  creation  ;  and  from  the  same  cause 
sympatliizeth   with  all  creation  in  its  groans  to  be  redeemed.     'For  we 
know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  earnest  expecta- 
tion', (Rom.  viii.  20 — ^23,)  of  a  renewal  of  its  forfeited  power,  the  power, 
namely,  of  retiring  into  that  image,  which  is  its  substantial  form  and  tme 
life,  fi-om  the  vanity  of  Self,  which  then  only  is  when  for  itself  it  hath 
ceased  to  be.    Even  so  doth  Rehgion  finitely  express  the  unity  of  the  in- 
finite Spirit  by  being  a  total  act  of  the  soul.     And  even  so  doth  it  repre- 
sent his  fullness  by  its  depth,  by  its  substantiality,  and  by  an  all-pervading 
vital  warmth   which — ^relaxing  the  rigid,  consolidating  the  dissolute,  and 
giving  cohesion  to  that  which  is  about  to  sink  down  and  fall  abroad,  as 
into  the  dust  and  crumble  of  the  Grave — is  a  life  within  life,  evermore  or- 
ganizing the  soul  anew. 

Nor  doth  it  express  the  fullness  only  of  the  Spirit.    It  likewise  repre- 
sents his  Over/loiving  by  its  communicativeness,  budding  and  blossoming 
forth  in  all  earnestness  of  persuasion,  and  in  all  words  of  sound  doctrine : 
while,  like  the  Citron  in  a  genial  soil  and  climate,  it  bears  a  golden  fi-uit- 
age  of  good- works  at  the  same  time,  the  example  waxing  in  contact  with 
the  exhortation,  as   the  ri})e  orange  beside   the  opening  orange-flower. 
Yea,  even  his  Creativeness  doth  it  shadow  out  by  its  own  powers  of  im- 
pregnation and  production,  ('being  such  a  one  as  Paul  the  aged,  and  also  a 
prisoner  for  Jesus  Christ,  who  begat  to  a  lively  hope  his  son  Onesiraus  in 
his  bonds')  regeneratiiig  in  and  through  the  Spirit  the  slaves  of  coiTuption, 
and  fugitives  from  a  far  greater  master  than  Philemon.    The  love  of  God, 
and  therefore  God  himself  who  is  Love,  Religion  strives   to  express  bi/ 
Love,  and  measures  its  gi^owth  by  the  increase  and   activity  of  its  Love. 
For  Christian  Love  is  the  last  and  divinest  birth,  the  harmony,  unity,  and 
god-like  transfigm-ation  of  all   the  vital,  intellectual,   moral,  and  spiritual 
powers.     Now  it  manifests  itself  as  the  sparkling  and  ebulMent  spring   of 
well-doing  in  gifts  and  in  labors;  and  now  as  a  silent  foimtain  of  patience 
and  long-suffering,  the  fullness  of  which  no  hatred  or  persecution  can  ex- 
haust or  diminish  ;  a  more  than  conqueror  in  the  persuasion,  '  that  neither 
death,  nor   life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  pre- 
sent, nor  things   to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature, 
shall  be  able  to  separate  it  from  the  Love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
the  Lord.'    (Rom.  viii.  38—39.) 

From  God's  Love  through  the  Son,  cnicified  for  us  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world,   Religion  begins :  and  in  Love  towards  God   and  the  crea- 

49 


386  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

tuies  of  God  it  hath  its  end  and  completion.  O  how  heaven-like  it  is  to 
sit  among  brethren  at  the  feet  of  a  minister  who  speaks  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Love,  and  is  heard  under  the  same  influence  !  For  ah  abiding  and 
spiritual  knowledge,  infused  into  a  grateful  and  affectionate  fellow-chris- 
tian,  is  as  the  child  of  the  mind  that  infuses  it.  The  dehght  which  he 
gives  he  receives  ;  and  in  tliat  bright  and  liberal  hour  the  gladdened  preach- 
er can  scarce  gather  the  ripe  produce  of  to-day,  without  discovering  and 
looking  forward  to  tlie  green  fruits  and  embryous,  the  heritage  and  rever- 
sionary wealth  of  the  days  to  come ;  till  he  bursts  forth  in  prayer  and 
thanksgiving — The  haiTest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  labourers  few.  O 
gracious  Lord  of  the  hai-vest,  send  forth  labourers  into  thy  harvest !  There 
is  no  difference  between  the  Jew  a:ad  the  Greek.  Thou,  Lord  over  all, 
art  rich  to  all  that  call  upon  thee.  But  how  shall  they  call  on  hirri  in 
whom  they  have  not  believed  ?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom 
they  have  not  heard  ?  and  How  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ?  and 
how  shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent  ?  And  O !  how  beautifld  upon 
the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publish- 
eth  peace,  that  bringeth  glad  tidings  of  good  things,  that  publisheth  salva- 
tion ;  that  saith  unto  the  captive  soul.  Thy  God  reigneth !  God  manifest- 
ed in  the  flesh  hath  redeemed  thee !  O  Lord  of  the  harvest,  send  forth  la- 
bourers into  thy  harvest ! 

Join  with  me,  Reader !  in  the  fervent  prayer,  that  we  may  seek  within 
us,  what  we  can  never  find  elsewhere,  that  we  juay  find  within  us,  what 
no  words  can  put  there,  that  one  only  true  rehgion,  which  elevateth  Know- 
ing into  Being,  which  is  at  once  tlie  Science  of  Bemg,  the  Being  and  the 
Life  of  all  genuine  Science^ 

[D.] 

In  all  ages  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  in  the  later  period  of  the  Jew- 
ish (that  is,  as  soon  as,  from  their  acquaintance  first  with  the  Oriental  and 
afterwards  with  the  Greek  philosophy,  the  precursory  and  preparative  in 
fiuences  of  the  Gospel  began  to  work)  there  have  existed  individuals  (La- 
odiceans  in  spirit,  Minims  in  faith,  and  nominalists  in  philosophy)  who 
mistake  outlines  for  substance,  and  distinct  images  for  clear  conceptions ; 
with  whom  therefore  not  to  be  a  thins:  is  the  same  as  not  to  he  at  all.  The 
contempt,  in  which  such  persons  hold  the  works  and  doctrines  of  all  the- 
ologians before  Grotius,  and  of  all  philosophers  before  Locke  and  Hartley 
(at  least  before  Bacon  and  Hobbes)  is  not  accidental,  nor  yet  altogether  ow- 
ing to  that  epidemic  of  a  proud  ignorance  occasioned  by  a  diffused  scio- 
lism, which  gave  a  sickly  and  hectic  shewiness  to  the  latter  half  of  the 
last  century.  It  is  a  real  instinct  of  self-defence  acting  oflfensively  by  an- 
ticipation. For  the  authority  of  all  the  greatest  names  of  antiquity  is  fidi 
and  decisive  against  them  :  and 'man,  by  the  very  nature  of  his  birth  and 
growth,  is  so  much  the  creature  of  authority,  that  there  was  no  way  of 


APPENDIX. 


387 


effectually  resisting  it,   but  by  undermining  the  reverence  for  the  past  in 
toto.     Thus,  the  Jewish  Prophets  have,  forsooth,  a  certain  degi-ee  of  anti- 
qumian  value,  aa  being  the  only  specimens  extant  of  the  oracles  of  a  bar- 
barous tribe;  the  Evangelists  are  to  bs  interpreted  with  a  due  allowance  for 
their  superstitious  prejudices  concerning   evil  spirits,  and  St.  Paul  never 
suffers  them  to  forget  that  he  had  been  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  a  Jeimsh 
Rabbi !     The  Greeks  indeed  were  a  fine  people  in  works  of  taste  ;  but  as 
to  their  philosophers  !  the  waitings  of  Plato  are  smoke  and  flash  from  the    ' 
witch's  cauldron  of  a  disturbed  iniagination  ! — Aristotle  s  works  a  quickset 
hedge  of  fmitless  and  thorny  distinctions !  and  all  the  Philosophers  before 
Plato  and  Aristotle  fablers  and  allegorizers  ! 

But  these  men  have  had  their  day  :  and  there  are  signs  of  the  times 
clearly  announcing  that  that  day  is  verging  to  its  close.  Even  now  there  are 
not  a  few,  on  whose  convictions  it  will  not  be  luiinfluencive  to  know,  that 
the  power,  by  which  men  are  led  to  the  truth  of  things,  instead  of  the  a.\>- 
pearances,  was  deemed  and  entitled  the  living  and  substiintial  Word  of 
God  by  the  soundest  of  the  Hebrew  Doctors.;  that  the  eldest  and  mosst 
profound  of  the  Greek  philosophers  demanded  assent  to  their  doctrine, 
mainly  as  ao(fiat}ionu()u5oroc,  i,  e.  a  traditionary  wisdom  that  had  its  orig-in 
in  inspiration  ;  that  these  men  referred  the  same  power  to  the  71  vo  an^Luov 
vn.0  Sioixovvroc  JoFOY'^  and  tliat  they  were  scarcely  less  express  than  their 
scholar  Philo  Judaeus,  in  their  affirmations  of  the  Logos,  as  no  mere  at- 
tribute or  quality,  no  mode  of  abstraction,  no  personification,  but  literally 
and  mysteriously  deus  alter  et  idem. 

When  education  has  fbsciplined  the  minds  of  our  gentiy  for  austerer 
study  ;  when  educated  men  will  be  ashamed  to  look  abroad  for  truths  that 
can  be  only  found  within ;  within  themselves  they  will  discover,  intuitively 
"will  they  discover,  the  distinctions  between  "the  light  that  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  w  orid"  and  the  understanding,  which  forms  the 
pecidium  of  each  man,  as  different  in  extent  and  value  from  another  man's 
understanding,  as  his  estate  may  be  from  his  neighl)our's  estate.  The 
W'Ords  of  St.  John,  from  the  7th  to  the  12th  verse  of  his  first  chapter,  are 
in  their  whole  extent  inteipretable  of  the  Understanding,  which  derives 
its  rank  and  mode  of  being  in  the  human  race  (that  is,  as  far  as  it  may  be 
contrasted  with  the  instinct  of  the  dog  or  elephant,  in  all,  which  constitutes 
it  human  understanding)  from  the  universal  Light.  This  Light  therefore 
comes  as  to  its  own.  Being  rejected,  it  leaves  the  understanding  to  a  world 
of  dreams  and  darkness :  for  in  it  alone  is  life  and  the  life  js  the  light  of 
jMEN.  What  then  but  apparitions  can  remain  to  a  Philosophy,  which  strikes 
death  through  all  things  visible  and  invisible ;  satisfies  itself  then  only 
when  it  can  explain  those  abstractions  of  the outv.ard  senses,  Avhich  l>y  an 
imconscious  irony  it  names  indifferently  facts  and  ])h{enomena,  mechanic- 
idly — that  is,  by  the  laws  of  Death  ;  aud  brands  with  the  name  of  Mysti- 
cism every  solution  grounded  in  Life,  or  the  powers  and  intuitions  of 
Life  ? 


388  AIDS    TO    REFL,ECTIOK. 

Oil  the  other  hand,  if  the  light  be  received  by  faith,  to  such  understand- 
ings it  delegates  the  privilege  to  become  Sons  of  God  {elovoiuv)^  expanding 
Mobile  it  elevates,  even  as  the  beams  of  the  sun  incoii^orate  with  the  mist, 
and  make  its  natural  darkness  and  earthly  nature  the  bearer  and  interpreter 

of  their   OVVai  glory.      'I^ar  u»;  m^ivayji,  ov  jiirj  ovrijB. 

The  very  same  truth  is  found  in  a  fragment  of  the  Ephesian  Heraclitus, 
preserved  by  Stobeeus,  and  in  soniew^hat  different  words  by  Diogenes  La- 

ertius.  iS'vv  vocn  Xsyovrac:  iaxvpi'^ed-Scii.  /pi]  Tw  ^vrci  navrtuv'  rpicpovrai  yuQ  narrtg 
hi  av&pcaTntvoi  root  vtto  hog  ruu  -Sfiou  [Joyov)  y.qain  yun  roaovrov  oxooov  idtXei,  xui 
liai)y.Bi  Tuxai  xai  TiiptytvsruL-  TRANSLATION : — To  discourse  rationally ):=af  we 
would  render  the  discursive  understanding  *'  discourse  of  reason'''')  it  be- 
hoves us  to  derive  strength  from  that  which  is  common  tt)  all  men :  (=:the 
Ught  that  lighteth  every  man.)  For  all  human  understandmgs  are  nour- 
ished by  the  one  Divine  Word,  whose  power  is  commensurate  with  his 
will,  and  is  sufficient  for  all  and  ovei-floweth  (=shineth  in  darkness,  and  is 
not  contained  therein,  or  comprehended  by  darkness.) 

This  was  Heraclitus,  whose  book  is  nearly  six  hundred  years  older  than 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  and  who  was  proverbially  entitled  the  Dark  [6 
oxonivoi;-)  But  it  was  a  darkness  which  Socrates  would  not  condemn, and 
wliich  would  probably  appear  to  enlightened  Christians  the  dai'kness  of 
prophecy,  had  the  work,  which  he  hid  in  the  temple,  been  presei-ved  to 
us.  But  obscurity  is  a  word  of  many  meanings.  It  may  be  in  tlie  sub- 
ject ;  it  may  be  in  the  author ;  or  it  may  be  in  the  reader  ; — and  this  again 
may  originate  in  the  state  of  the  reader's  heart;  or  in  that  of  his  capaci- 
ty :  or  in  his  temper ;  or  in  his  accidental  associations.  Two  kinds  are  es- 
pecially pointed  out  by  the  divine  Plato  in  his  Sophistes.  The  Beauty  of 
the  Original  is  beyond  my  reach.  On  my  anxiety  to  give  the  fulness  of  the 
Thought,  I  must  ground  my  excuse  for  construing  rather  than  translating. 
The  fidelity  of  the  version  may  well  atone  for  its  harshness  in  a  passage 
that  deserves  a  meditation  beyond  tlie  ministry  of  words,  even  the  w^ords 
of  Plato  himself,  though  in  them,  or  nowhere,  are  to  be  heard  the  sweet 
sounds,  that  issued  from  the  Head  of  Memnon  at  the  Touch  of  Light. 
"  One  thing  is  the  Hardness-to-he-understood  of  the  Sophist,  another  that  of 
the  Philosopher.  The  former  retreating  into  the  obscurity  of  that  which 
hath  not  true  Being,  [rov  utj  dfrog)  and  by  long  intercourse  accustomed  to 
the  same,  is  hard  to  be  known  on  account  of  the  duskiness  of  the  place. 
But  the  philosopher  by  contemplation  of  pure  reason  evermore  approxi- 
mating to  the  idea  of  true  Being  [rov  ottos)  is  by  no  means  easy  to  be 
seen  on  account  of  the  splendor  of  that  region.  For  the  intellectual  eyes 
of  the  Many  flit,  and  are  incapable  of  looking  fixedly  toward  the  God- 
hke." 

There  are,  I  am  aware,  persons  who  willingly  admit,  that  not  in  articles 
of  Faith  alone,  but  in  the  heights  of  Geometry,  and  even  in  the  nccessai'y 
first  principles  ol  Natural  Philosoi)hy,  there  exist  truths  of  apodictic  force 


APPENDIX.  389 

ill  Reason,  which  the  mere  Understanding  strives  in  vain  to  comprehend. 
Take,  as  an  instance,  the  ascending  series  of  Infinites  in  every  Finite,  a 
position  which  involves  a  contradiction  for  the  Understanding,  yet  follows 
demonstrably  from  the  very  definition  of  Body,  as  that  which  fills  a  space. 
For  wherever  there  is  a  space  filled,  there  must  be  an  extension  to  be  di- 
vided. When  therefore  Maxims  generalized  from  appearances  (PhaBnom- 
ena)  are  apphed  to  Substances  ;  when  Rules,  abstracted  or  deduced  from 
the  Forms  in  Tmie  and  Space,  are  used  as  measures  of  Spiritual  Being, 
yea  even  of  the  Divine  Nature  which  cannot  be  compared  or  classed  -. 
("  For  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  nor  are  my  ways  your  ways, 
saith  the  Lord."  Isaiah  Iv.  8.)  such  Professors  cannot  but  protest  against 
the  whole  Process,  as  grounded  on  a  gross  Metathesis  iig  dUo  ysvog.  Yet 
still  they  are  disposed  to  tolerate  it  as  a  sort  of  sanative  counter-excite- 
ment,  that  holds  in  check  the  more  dangerous  disease  of  Methodism.  But 
I  more  than  doubt  of  both  the  positions.  I  do  not  think  Methodism,  Cal- 
vinistic  or  Wesleyan,  the  more  dangerous  disease  ;  and  even  if  it  were,  I 
should  deny  that  it  is  at  all  likely  to  be  counteracted  by  the  rational  Chris- 
tianity of  our  modern  Alogi  {Xoyog  ni;;s(ug  aP^oyog  I)  who,  mistaking  Unity  for 
Sameness,  have  been  pleased  by  a  misnomer,  not  less  contradictory  to  their 
own  tenets  than  intolerant  to  those  of  Christians  in  general,  to  entitle  them- 
selves Unitariaivs.  The  two  contagions  attack  each  a  wholly  different 
class  of  minds  and  tempers,  and  each  tends  to  produce  and  justify  the 
other,  according  as  the  predisposition  of  the  patient  may  chance  to  be.  If 
Fanatacism  be  as  a  fire  in  the  flooring  of  the  church,  the  Idolism  of  the 
unspiritualized  Understanding  is  the  dry  rot  in  its  beams  and  timbers. 
y^Splv  xQ^loj^tvvvtiv  ua?./.(jv  tj  Tivoy.aiiiv :  says  Heraclitus.  It  is  not  the  sect  of 
Unitarian  Dissenters,  but  the  spij-it  of  Unitarianism  in  the  members  of  the 
Established  Church  that  alarms  me.  To  what  open  revilings,  and  to  what 
whispered  slanders,  I  subject  my  name,  by  tliis  public  avowal,  I  well  know : 

ttTitgoi;?  yuQ  riyug  sivat  i,'H:;vipa)r  HqaxXanog  iprjOiv,    axovoai  hvx  i.iigaiKvuvg  ov8' 
iijzsiv  a?.?.a  xai,  xvrsg  cog,  ^uvLovOir  bv  uv  utj  yirwoxvjoi. 

[E.] 

The  term,  Idea,  is  an  instance  in  point :  and  I  hazard  this  assertion,  to- 
gether with  the  preceding  sentences,  in  the  full  consciousness,  that  they 
must  be  unintelligible  to  those  who  have  yet  to  learn,  that  an  Idea  is  equi- 
distant in  its  signification  from  Sensation,  Image,  Fact,  and  Notion :  that 
it  is  the  antithesis,  not  the  synonyme,  of  n'lo/.ov.  The  magnificent  son  of 
Cosmo  was  wont  to  discourse  with  Ficino,  Politian,  and  the  princely  Mi- 
randula  on  the  Ideas  of  Will,  God,  and  Immortality.  The  accomplished 
author  of  the  x\rcadia,  the  star  of  serenest  l)rilliancc  in  the  glorious  con- 
stellation of  Elizabeth's  court,  om-  England's  Sir  Phihp  Sj'dney !  He,  the 
paramount  gentleman  of  Europe,  the  poet,  warrior,  and  statesman,  held 
high  converse  with  Spensyr  on  the  Idea  of  Supersensual  beauty  ;  on  all 


390  AIDS    TO    REFLECTIOJSf. 

earthly,  fair,  and  amiable,"  as  the  Symbol  of  that  Idea ;  and  on  Music  ant! 
Poesy  as  its  living  Educis !  With  the  same  genial  reverence  did  the  young- 
er Algernon  commune  with  Harrington  and  Milton  on  the  Idea  of  a  perfect 
state  ;  and  in  what  sense  it  is  true,  that  the  men  (i.  e.  the  aggi-egate  of  the 
inhabitants  of  a  countr}"  at  any  one  time)  are  made  for  the  state,  not  the 
state  for  the  men.  But  these  lights  shine  no  longer,  or  for  a  few.  Exeunt : 
and  enter  in  their  stead  Holofernes  and  Costard !  masked  as  Metaphysics 
and  Common-sense.  And  these  too  have  their  Ideas !  The  former  has 
an  Idea,  that  Hume,  Haitley,  and  Condillac  have  exploded  all  Idea^,  but 
those  of  sensation  ;  he  has  an  Idea  that  he  was  particularly  pleased  with 
the  fine  Idea  of  the  last-named  Philosopher,  that  there  is  no  absurdity  in 
asking,  Jfliat  color  Virtue  is  of)  inasmuch  as  the  proper  philosophic  an- 
swer would  be  black,  blue,  or  bottle-green,  according  as  the  coat,  waist- 
coat and  small-clothes  might  chance  to  be  of  the  person,  the  series  of 
whose  motions  had  excited  the  sensations,  which  formed  our  Idea  of  vir- 
tue. The  latter  has  no  Idea  of  a  better-flavored  haunch  of  venison  than 
he  dined  off  at  the  Albion,  he  admits  that  the  French  have  an  excellent 
Idea  of  cooking  in  general,  but  holds  that  their  best  cooks  have  no  more 
Idea  of  dressing  a  turtle  than  the  gourmands  themselves,  at  Paris,  have  of 
the  true  ta^te  and  color  of  the  fat ! 

It  is  not  impossible  that  a  portion  of  the  high  value  attached  of  late 
years  to  the  Dates  and  Margins  of  our  old  Folios  and  Quartos,  may  be 
transferred  to  their  Contents.    Even  now  there  exists  a  shrewd  suspicion 
in  the   minds  of  reading  men,  that  not  only  Plato  and  Aristotle,  but  even 
Scotus  Erigena,  and  the  schoolmen  from  Peter  Lombard  to  Duns  Scotus, 
are  not  such  mere  blockheads,  as  they  pass  for  with  those  who  have  never 
perused  a  line  of  their  writings.     What  the  results  may  be^  should  this  ri- 
pen into  conviction,   I  can  but  guess.     But  all  Histoiy  seems  to  favor  the 
persuasion,  I  entertain,   that  in  every  age  the  speculative  Philosophy  in 
general  acceptance,  the  metaphysical  opinions  that  happen  to  be  predom- 
inant, will  influence  the  Theology  of  that  age.     Whatever  is  proposed  for 
the  Belief,  as  true,  must  have  been  previously  admitted  by  Reason  as  pos- 
sible, as  involving  no  contradiction  to  the  universal   forms  (or   laws)   of 
Thought,  no  uicompatibility  in  the  terms  of  the  proposition ;  and  the  de- 
termination on  this  head  belongs  exclusively  to  the  science  of  Metaphys- 
ics.   In   each  article  of  Faith  embraced  on  conviction,  the  mind   deter- 
mines, first  intuitively  on  its  logical  possibility  ;  secondly,  discursively,  on  its 
analogy  to  doctrines  already  believed,  as  w^ell  as  on  its  correspondencies  to 
the  wants  and  faculties  of  our  nature,  and  thirdly,  historically,  on  the  di- 
rect and  indirect  evidences.     But  the  jirobability  of  an  event  is  a  part  of 
its  historic  evidence,  and  constitutes  its  presumptive  proof,  or  the  evidence 
a  prion.     Now  as  the  evidence  a  posteriori,  requisite  in  order  to  a  satis- 
factory lu'oof  of  the   actual  occurrence  of  any  Fact,  stands  in  an  inverse 
ratio  to  the  strength  or  weakness  of  the  evidence  a  i)riori  (that  is,  a  fact 


APPENDIX.  -  bL»l 

probable  iii   itself  may  be  believed  on  slight  testimony)  it  is  manifest  that 
of  the  three  Factors,  by  which  the  mind  is  determined  to  the  admission 
or  rejection   of  the  point  in  question,  the  last  must  be  greatly  mfluenced 
by  the   second,   and  that   both   depend  on   the  first,   not  mdeed  as  their 
cause  or  preconstituent,  but  as  their  indispensable  condition  ;  so  that  the 
very  inquiry  concerning  them  is  preposterous  (n^ffoqijawa  row  r^sQov  Iloorinoi) 
as  long  as  the  first  remains  midetermiiied.     Again  :  the  history  of  human 
opinions  (ecclesiastical  and  philosopliical  liistor}')  confiiins  by  manifold  in- 
stances, what  attentive  consideration  of  the  position  itself  might  have  au- 
thorized us  to  presume,  namely,  that  on  all  such  subjects  as  are  out  of  the 
sphere  of  the  senses,  and  therefore  incapable  of  a  direct  proof  fi-om  out- 
ward experience,  the  question  whether  any  given  position  is  logically  im- 
jK)ssible  (incompatible  ^\ath  Reason)  or  only  incomprehensible  (i.  e.  not  re- 
ducible to  the  fonns  of  Sense,  namely.  Time  and  Si)ace,  or  those  of  the 
Understanding,  namely  Quantity,  Quahty,  and  Relation — )  in  other  words, 
the  question,  whether  an  assertion  be  in  itself  inconceivable,  or  only  by  us 
unimagmable,  will  be  decided  by  each  indi\idual  according  to  the  positions 
assumed  as  first  principles  in  the  metaphysical  system  which  he  had  pre- 
viously adopted.     Thus  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Reason,  the  Creator 
of  the  material  Univei*se,  involved  a  contradiction  for  a  disciple  of  Epicu- 
rus, who  had  convinced  himself  tliat  causative  thought  was  tantamount  to 
something  out  of  nothing  or  substance  out  of  shadow,  and  mcompatibie 
with  the  axiom  Nihil  ex  niliilo :  While  on  the  contrary,  to  a  Platonist  the 
position  is  necessarily  presupposed  in  every  odier  ti'uth,  as  that  without 
which  every  fact  of  exi^erience  would  involve  a  contradiction  m  Reason. 
Now  it  is  not  denied  that  the   Framers  of  our  Church  Liturgy,  Homilies 
and  Articles,  entertamed  metaphysical  opinions  irreconcileable  in  tlieir  first 
principles   with   the  system  of  speculative   philosophy  which   has   been 
taught  in   this  countr}',  and  only  not  universally  received,  since  the  asser- 
ted and  generally  believed  defeat  of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester  (the  excel- 
lent  StilUngfleet)  in  his  famous  controversy  ^^'ith  Mr.  Locke.     Assuredly 
therefore  it  is  well  worth  the   consideration  of  our  Established  Clergy 
whether  it  is  at  all  probable  in  itself,  or  congruous  with  experience,  that 
the  disputed  Articles  of  our  Church  </€  revelatis  etcredcndis  should  be  adopt- 
ed  with   singleness  of  lieail,  and  m  the  hght  of  kno^^iedge,  when   the 
grounds  and  Jirst  philosophy,  on  which  the  Framei*s  themselves   rested  the 
antecedent  credibility  (may  we  not  add  even  the  revelabiiity  ?)  of  the  Arti- 
cles in  question,  have  been   exchanged  for  principles  the  most  dissimilar, 
if  not  contraiy  ?     It  may  be  said  and  truly,  that  the  Scriptm-es,   and  not 
metaphysical  sj'stems,  are  oiu*  best  and  ultimate  authorit}'.     And  doubtless, 
on  Revelation   must  we  rely  for  the  truth  of  the  Doctrines.     Yet  what   is 
held  mcapable  of  being  conceived  as  possible,  will  be  deemed  incapable 
of  having  been  revealed  as  real :  and  that  philosophy  has  hitherto  had  a 
negative  voice,  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptm-es  in  high  and  doc- 


392  AIDS   TO    REFLECTION. 

trinal  points,  is  proved  by  the  course  of  argument  adopted  in  the  contro- 
versial vohimes  of  all  the  orthodox  Divines  from  Origen  to  Bishop  Bull 
as  well  as  by  the  very  different  sense  attached  to  the  same  texts  by  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  modern  Metaphysique,  wherever  they  have  been  at  hber- 
ty  to  form  their  own  creeds  according  to  their  own  exposition. 

I  repeat  the  question  then  :  is  it  hkely,  that  the  faith    of  our  ancestors 
will  be  retained  when  their  philosophy  is  rejected  ?  rejected  a  priori,  as 
baseless  notions  not  worth  inquiring  into,  as  obsolete  errors  which  it  would 
be  "  slaying  the  slain'^  to  confute  ?    Should  the  answer  be  in  the  negative, 
it  would  be  no  strained  inference  that  the  Clergy  at  least,  as  the  Conserva- 
tors of  the  national   Faith,  and  the  accredited   Representatives  of  Learn- 
ing in  general  amongst  us,  might,  with  great  advantage  to  their  own  peace 
of  mind,  qualify  themselves  to  judge  for  themselves  concerning  the  com- 
parative worth  and  solidity  of  the  two  schemes.    Let  them  make  the  ex- 
periment, whether  a  patient  re-hearing  of  their  predecessors'  cause,  with 
enough  of  predilection  for  the  men  to  counterpoise  the  prejudices  against 
their  system,  might  not  induce  them  to  move  for  a  new  trial — a  result  of 
no  mean  importance  in  my  opinion,  were  it  on  this  account  alone,  that 
it  would  recall  certain  ex-dignitaries  in  the  Book-republic  from  their  long 
exile  on  the  shelves  of  our  public  libraries  to  their  old  familiar  station  on 
the  reading  desks  of  our  theological  students.    However  strong  the  pre- 
sumption were  in  favor  of  principles  authorized  bynames  that  must  needs 
be  so  dear  and  venerable  to  a  Minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  those 
of  Hooker,  Whitaker,  Field,  Donne,  Selden,  Stillingfleet,  (mascu- 
line intellects,  fomied  under  the  robust  discipline  of  an  age  memorable 
for  keenness  of  research,  and  iron  industiy !)  yet  no  undue  preponderance 
from  any  previous  weight  in  this  scale  will  be  apprehended  by  minds  ca- 
pable of  estimating  the  counter- weights,  which  it  must  first  bring  to  a  bal- 
ance in  the  scale  opposite'!     The  obstinacy  of  opinions  that  have  always 
been  taken  for  granted  !  opinions  unassailable  even  by  the  remembrance  of 
a  doubt !  the  silent  accrescence   of  belief  from  the  unwatched  deposi- 
tions of  a  general,  never-contradicted,  hearsay,  the  concurring  suffrage  of 
modern  books,  all  pre-supposing  or  re-asserting  the  same  principles  with 
the  same  confidence,  and  with  the  same  contempt  for  all  prior  systems  !— 
and  among  these,  Works  of  highest  authority,  appealed  to  in  our  Legisla- 
tures, and  lectured  on  at  our  Universities ;  the   very  books,  perhaps,  that 
called  forth  our  own  first  efibrts  in  thinking !  the  solutions  and  confutations 
in  which   must  therefore  have   appeai'ed  tenfold  more  satisfactory  from 
their  having  given  us  our  first  information  of  the  difficulties  to  be  solved, 
of  the  oi>inions  to  be  confuted ! — Verily,  a  Clergyman's  partiality  towards 
the  tenets  of  his   forefathers  must  be   intense  beyond  all   precedent,  if  it 
can   more  than  sustain  itself  against  antagonists  so  strong  in  themselves, 
and  with  such  mighty  adjuncts ! 

Nor  in  this  enumeration  dare  I  '^though  fully  aware   of  the  obloquy  to 


APPENDIX.  o[jO 

which  I  am  exposing  myself)  omit  the  noticea])lo  fart,  that  we  have  attacli- 
6(1  a  portion  even  of  our  national  gloiy  (not  only  to  the  system  itself,  tliat 
system  of  disguised  and   decorous  epicureanism,  which  has  been  the  only 
orthodox  philosopliy  of  the  last  hundred  years  ;  but  also,  and  more  emphat- 
ically,) to  the  name  of  the  assumed  father  of  the  system,  who  raised  it  to 
its  present   "pride  of  place,"  and  almost  universal  acceptance  throughout 
Europe.     And  how  was  this  effected  ?    Extnnsically,  by  all  the  causes, 
consequences,  and  accompaniments  of  the  Revolution  in  1688  :  by  all  the 
opinions,  interests,  and  passions,  which,  counteracted  by  the  sturdy  prejudi- 
ces of  the  mal-contents  with  the  Revolution  ;  qualijied  by  the  compromi- 
sing character  of  its  chief  conductors ;  not  more  propelled  by  the  spirit  of 
enterprise  and   hazard  in   our  commercial  towns,  than  held  in  check  by 
the  characteristic  vis  inertije  of  the  peasantry  and  landholders;  both  par- 
ties cooled  and  lessoned  by  the  equal  failin-e  of  the  destruction,  and  of  the 
restoration,  of  monarchy ;  it  was  effected  extrinsically,  I  say,  by  the  same 
influences,  which,  [not  in  and  of  themselves,  but  with  all  these  and  sundry 
other  modifications)  combined,  under  an  especial  controul  of  Providence, 
to  perfect  and  secure  the  majestic  Temple  of  the  British  Constitution  ! — 
But  the  very  same  which  in  France,  loitJwut  this  providential  counterpoise, 
overthrew  the  motley  fabric  of  feudal  oppression  to  build  up  in  its  stead 
the  madhouse   of  jacobinism  !  Intrinsically,  and  as  far  as  the  philosophic 
scheme  itself  is  alone  concerned,  it  was  effected  by  the  mixed  policy  and 
bonhomie,  wdth   which  the  author  contrived  to  retain  in  his  celebrated 
work  whatever  the  system  possesses  of  soothing  for  the  indolence,  and  of 
flattering  for  the  vanity,  of  men's  average  understandings ;  while  he  kept 
out  of  sight  all  its  darker  features,  that  outraged  the   instinctive  faith  and 
moral  feelings  of  mankind,  ingeniously  threading-on  the  dried  and  shriv- 
elled, yet  still  wholesome  and  nutritious,  fruits,  plucked  from  the  rich  grafls 
of  ancient   wisdom,  to  the  barren  and  worse  than  baiTcn  fig  tree  of  the 
mechanic  philosophy.    Thus,  the  sensible  Christians,  "  the  angels  of  the 
church  of  Laodicea,"  with  the  numerous  and  mighty  sect  of  their  admi- 
rers, delighted  with  the  discoveiy  that  they  could  purchase  the  decencies 
and  the  creditableness  of  religion  at  so  small  an  expenditure  of  faith,  ex- 
tolled the  work  for  its  pious  conclusions :  while  the  Infidels,  wiser  in  their 
generation  than  the  children  (at  least  than  these  nominal  children)  of  light, 
eulogized  it   with  no  less  zeal  for  the  sake  of  its  principles  and  assump- 
tions, and  with  the  foresight  of  those  obvious  and  only  legitimate  conclu- 
sions, that  might  and  would  be  deduced  from  them.    Great  at  all  times 
and  almost  incalculable  are  the  influences  of  party  spirit  in  exaggerating 
contemporary  reputation ;  but  never  perhaps  "  from  the  first  syllable  of 
recorded  time"  were  they  exerted  under  such  a  concurrence  and  conjunc- 
tion of  fortunate  accidents,  of  helping  and  furthering  events  and  circum- 
stances, as  in  the  instance  of  Mr.  Locke. 
I  am  most  fully  persuaded,  that  the  principles  both  of  taste,  morals,  and 

50 


394  AIDS    TO     REFLECTION. 

religion  taught  in  our  most  popular  compendia  of  moral  and  political  phi- 
losophy, natural  theolog)'^,  CAidences  of  Christianity,  &c.  are  false,  injuri- 
ous, and  debasing.  But  I  am  likewise  not  less  deeply  convinced,  that  all 
the  well-meant  attacks  on  the  writings  of  modern  infidels  and  heretics,  in 
support  either  of  the  miracles  or  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion, can  be  of  no  permanent  utility,  while  the  authors  themselves  join  in 
the  vulgar  appeal  to  common  sense  as  the  one  infallible  judge  in  matters, 
which  become  subjects  of  philosophy  only,  because  they  involve  a  contra- 
diction between  this  common  sense  and  our  morcd  instincts,  and  require 
therefore  an  arbiter,  which  containing  both  [eminenter)  must  be  higher  than 
either.  We  but  mow  down  the  rank  misgrowth  instead  of  cleansing  the 
soil,  as  long  as  we  ourselves  protect  and  manure,  as  the  pride  of  our  gar- 
den, a  tree  of  false  knowledge,  which  looks  fair  and  shewy  and  variega- 
ted with  fi-uits  not  its  own,  that  hang  from  the  branches  which  have  at 
various  times  been  ingrafted  on  its  stem ;  but  from  the  roots  of  which  un- 
der ground  the  runners  are  sent  off,  that  shoot  up  at  a  distance  and  bring 
forth  the  true  and  natural  crop. — I  will  speak  plainly,  though  in  so  doing 
I  must  bid  defiance  to  all  the  flatterers  of  the  folly  and  foolish  self-opin- 
ion of  the  half-instructed  many.  The  articles  of  our  Church,  and  the  true 
principles  of  government  and  social  order,  will  never  be  effectually  and  con- 
sistently maintained  against  their  antagonists  till  the  champions  have  them- 
selves ceased  to  worship  the  same  Baal  with  their  enemies,  till  they  have 
cast  out  the  common  Idol  from  the  recesses  of  their  own  convictions,  and 
with  it  the  whole  service  and  ceremonial  of  Idolism.  While  all  parties 
agree  in  their  abjuration  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  and  in  their  contemptuous 
neglect  of  the  schoolmen  and  the  scholastic  logic,  without  which  the  excel- 
lent Selden  (that  genuine  English  Mind,  whose  erudition,  broad,  deep,  and 
manifold  as  it  was,  is  yet  less  remarkable  than  his  robust,  healthful  common 
sense)  affirms  it  (see  his  Table  Talk)  impossible  for  a  Divine  thoroughly  to 
comprehend  or  reputably  to  defend  the  whole  undiminished  and  unadulter- 
ated scheme  of  Catholick  faith :  while  all  alike  pre-assume,with  Mr.  Locke, 
that  the  Mind  contains  only  the  reliques  of  the  Senses,  and  therefore  pro- 
ceed with  him  to  explain  the  substance  from  the  shadow,  the  voice  from 
the  echo :  they  can  but  detect,  each  the  others  inconsistencies.  The  cham- 
pion of  orthodoxy  will  victoriously  expose  the  bald  and  staring  incongrui- 
ty of  the  Socinian  scheme  with  the  language  of  Scripture,  and  with  the 
final  causes  of  all  revealed  religion :  the  Socinian  will  retort  on  the  ortho- 
dox the  incongruity  of  a  behef  in  mysteries  with  his  own  admissions  con- 
cerning the  origin,  and  nature  of  all  tenable  ideas,  and  as  triumphantly  ex- 
pose the  pretences  of  believing  in  a  form  of  words,  to  which  the  behever 
himself  admits  that  he  can  attach  no  consistent  meaning.  Lastly,  the  god- 
lesp  materiahst,  as  the  only  consistent,  because  the  only  consequent,  rea- 
soner,  will  secretly  laugh  at  both.  If  these  sentiments  should  be  just,  the 
consequences  are  so  important,  that  every  well-educated  man,  who  has 
given  proofs  that  he  has  at  least  patiently  studied  the  subject,  deserves  a 


APPENDIX.  395 

patient  hearing.  Had  I  not  the  authority  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  intel- 
lects for  at  least  two  thousand  years  on  my  side,  yet  from  the  vital  interest 
of  the  opinions  themselves,  and  their  natural,  unconstrained,  and  (as  it 
v/ere)  spontaneous  coalescence  with  the  faith  of  the  Catholick  church, 
(they  being,  moreover,  the  opinions  of  its  most  eminent  fathers,)  I  might 
appeal  to  all  orthodox  Christians,  whether  tliey  adhere  to  the  faith  only,  or 
both  to  the  faith  and  forms,  of  the  established  Church,  in  the  words  of  my 
motto:  Ad  isthsec  quEeso  vos,  quahacunque  primo  videantur  aspectu,  ad- 
tendite,  ut  qui  vobis  forsan  insanire  videar,  saltern  quibus  insaniam  rationi- 
bus  cognoscatis. 

There  are  still  a  few,  however,  young  men  of  loftiest  minds,  and  the 
very  stuff  out  of  which  tlie  sword  and  shield  of  truth  and  honor  are  to  be 
made,  who  will  not  witlidi-aw  all  confidence  from  the  writer,  although 

Tis  true,  that  passionate  for  ancient  Truths 
And  honoring  with  religious  love  the  Great 
Of  elder  times,  he  hated  to  excess. 
With  an  unquiet  and  intolerant  Scorn, 
The  hollow  Puppets  of  an  hollow  Age 
Ever  idolatrous,  and  changing  ever 
Its  worthless  Idols ! 

a  few  there  are,  who  will  still  less  be  indisposed  to  follow  him  in  his  mild- 
er mood,  whenever  their  Friend, 

Piercing  the  long-neglected  holy  Cave, 
The  haunt  obscure  of  Old  Philosophy, 
Shall  bid  with  lifted  Torch  its  starr}-^  walls 
Sparkle,  as  erst  they  sparkled  to  the  flame 
Of  od'rous  lamps  tended  by  saint  and  sage  I 

I  have  hinted,  above,  at  the  necessity  of  a  Glossary,  and  I  will  conclude 
these  supplementary  remarks  with  a  nomenclature  of  the  principal  terms 
that  occur  in  the  elements  of  speculative  philosophy,  in  their  old  and  right- 
ful sense,  according  to  my  belief;  at  all  events  the  sense  in  which  I  have 
myself  employed  them.  The  most  generdi  term  (genus  summim)  belong- 
ing to  the  speculative  hitellect,  as  distinguished  from  acts  of  the  will,  is 
Representatioiv,  or  (still  better)  Presentation. 

A  conscious  presentation,  if  it  refers  exclusively  to  the  Subject,  as  a 
modification  of  his  own  state  of  Being,  is  =  Sensation. 

The  same  if  it  refers  to  an  Object,  is  r=  Perception. 

A  Perception,  immediate  and  individual,  is  zzr  an  Intuition. 

The  same,  mediate,  and  by  means  of  a  character  or  mark  common  to 
several  tlnngs,  is  z=  a  Conception. 

A  Conception,  extrinsic  and  sensuous,  is  =  a  Fact,  or  a  Cognition. 

The  same,  purely  mental  and  abstracted  from  the  forms  of  the  Under- 
standing itself  is  :=  a  Notion. 


396  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

A  Notion  may  be  realized,  and  becomes  Cognition  ;  but  that  which  is 
neither  a  Sensation  or  a  Perception,  that  which  is  neither  individual  (i.  e. 
a  sensible  Intuition)  nor  general  (i.  e.  a  conception)  which  neither  refei-s  to 
outward  Facts  nor  yet  is  abstracted  from  the  Forms  of  perception  con- 
tained in  the  Understanding ;  but  which  is  an  educt  of  the  Imagination 
actuated  by  the  pure  Reason,  to  which  there  neither  is  or  can  be  an  ade- 
quate correspondent  in  the  world  of  Senses — ^this  and  this  alone  is  z=:  an 
Idea.  Whether  Ideas  are  regulative  only,  according  to  Aristotle  and 
Kant ;  or  likewise  Constitutive,  and  one  with  the  power  and  Life  of 
Nature,  according  to  Plato,  and  Plotinus,  («»'  Aoyw  tw/yi^v,  xai  ^  Ltarj  jjv  to  (pwg 
Ttov  av&Qoiuvn,)  is  the  h'lghcst problem  of  Philosophy,  and  not  part  of  its  nom- 
enclature. 


[The  following  additional  definitions,  extracted  from  his  other  works, 
may  help  to  show  that  the  author  attaches  distinct  notions  to  the  terms 
which  he  employs,  and  be  otherwise  of  service  to  the  reader. — Am.  Ed.] 

"The  word,  i^f^t-,  in  its  original  sense,  as  used  by  Pindar,  Aristophanes, 
and  in  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  represented  the  visual  abstraction  of  a  dis- 
tant object,  when  we  see  the  whole  without  distinguishing  its  parts.  Pla- 
to adopted  it  as  a  technical  term,  and  as  the  antithesis  to  EiS(xi?m,  or  sensu- 
ous images ;  the  transient  and  perishable  emblems,  or  mental  words,  of 
ideas.  The  ideas  themselves  he  considered  as  mysterious  powers,  living, 
seminal,  formative,  and  exempt  from  time.  In  this  sense  the  word  be- 
came the  i)roperty  of  the  Platonic  school ;  and  it  seldom  occurs  in  Aristo- 
tle, without  some  such  phrase  annexed  to  it,  as  "  according  to  Plato,"  or  "  as 
Plato  says."  Our  English  writers  to  the  end  of  Charles  2nd's  reign,  or 
somewhat  later,  employed  it  either  in  the  original  sense,  or  platonically,  or 
in  a  sense  nearly  cori'espondent  to  our  present  use  of  the  substantive.  Ideal, 
always,  however,  opposing  it,  more  or  less,  to  image,  whether  of  present 
or  absent  objects." 

"■'  To  express  in  one  word  all  that  appertains  to  perception,  considered  as 
passive,  and  merely  recipient,  I  have  adopted  from  our  elder  classics  the 
word  sensuous ;  because  sensvxd  is  not  at  present  used  except  in  a  bad 
sense,  or  at  least  as  a  moral  distinction,  while  sensitive  and  sensible  would 
each  convey  a  different  meaning.' 

"  But  for  sundry  notes  on  Shakespeare,  &c.  which  have  fallen  in  my 
way,  I  should  have  deemed  it  unnecessary  to  observe,  that  discourse  does 
not  mean  what  we  7ioiv  call  discoursing  ;  but  tlio  discursion  of  the  mindy 
the  processes  of  generaliza^on  and  subsumption,  of  deduction  and  conclu- 


APPENDIX.  397 

sion.     Thus,  philosophy  has  hitherto  been  discursive,  while  Geometry  is 
always,  and  essentially,  intuitive. 

"  When  tw^o  distinct  meanings  are  confounded  under  one  or  more  words, 
(and  such  must  be  the  case,  as  sure  as  our  knowledge  is  progressive,  and 
of  course,  imperfect)  erroneous  consequences  will  be  drawn,  and  what  is 
true  in  one  sense  of  the  word,  will  be  affirmed  as  true  in  toto.  Men  of 
research,  startled  by  the  consequences,  seek  in  the  things  themselves 
(whether  in  or  out  of  tlie  mind)  for  a  knowledge  of  the  fact,  and  having 
discovered  the  difference,  remove  the  equivocation  either  by  the  substi- 
tution of  a  new  word,  or  by  the  appropriation  of  one  of  the  two  or  more 
words,  that  had  before  been  used  promiscuously.  When  this  distinction 
has  been  so  naturalized  and  of  such  general  currency  that  the  language 
itself  does,  as  it  were,  think  for  us,  (like  the  sliding  rule,  which  is  the  me- 
chanic's safe  substitute  for  arithmetical  knowledge,)  we  then  say,  that  it  is 
evident  to  common  sense.  Common  sense,  therefore,  differs  in  different 
ages.  What  was  bom  and  christened  in  the  schools,  passes  by  degrees 
into  the  world  at  large,  and  becomes  tlie  property  of  the  market  and  the 
tea-table.  At  least,  I  can  discover  no  other  meaning  of  the  term,  common 
sense,  if  it  is  to  convey  any  si)ecific  difference  from  sense  and  judgment  in 
genere,  and  where   it  is  not  used  scholastically  for  the  universal  reason.''^ 

^^Metaphysics  are  the  science  which  determines  what  can,  and  what  can 
not,  be  known  of  Being  and  the  Laws  of  Being,  a  prion,  (that  is  from 
those  necessities  of  the  mind  or  forms  of  thinking,  which,  though  first 
revealed  to  us  by  experience,  must  yet  have  pre-existed  in  order  to  make 
experience  itself  possible.") 

"This  phrase,  a piiori,  is  in  common  most  grossly  misunderstood,  and 
an  absurdity  burthened  on  it,  which  it  does  not  deserve  !  By  knowledge,  a 
priori,  we  do  not  mean,  that  we  can  know  any  thing  previously  to  expe- 
rience, which  would  be  a  contradiction  in  terms ;  but,  that  having  once 
known  it  by  occasion  of  experience,  (i.  e.  something  acting  uj)on  us  from 
without,)  we  then  know,  that  it  must  have  pre-existed,  or  the  experience 
itself  would  have  been  impossible.  By  experience  only,  I  know  that  I 
have  eyes ;  but  then  my  reason  convinces  me,  that  I  must  have  had  eyes 
in  order  to  the  experience." 

"The  same  principle,  which  in  its  application  to  tlie  whole  of  our  being 
becomes  religion,  considersd  speculatively  is  the  basis  of  metaphysical  sci- 
ence, that,  namely,  which  requires  an  evidence  beyond  that  of  sensible 
concretes,  which  latter  the  ancients  generalized  in  the  word,  physica,  and 
therefore  (prefixing  the  preposition,  meta,  i.  e.  beyond  or  transcending)  na- 
med the  superior  science,  metaphysics.  The  Invisible  was  assumed  as 
the  supporter  of  the  apparent,  tw)  f/)«n  on  iron — as  their  s^ibstance,  a  term 
which,  in  any  other  interpretation,  exi)reases  only  the  striving  of  the  im- 
aginative })Ower  under  conditions  that  involve  the  necessity  of  its  frustra- 
tion.   If  the  Invisible  be  denied,  or  (which  is  equivalent)  considered  in- 


398  AIDS    TO    REFLECTION. 

visible  from  the  defect  of  the  senses  and  not  in  its  own  nature,  the  scien- 
ces even  of  observation  and  experiment  lose  their  essential  copula.  The 
component  parts  can  never  be  reduced  into  an  harmonious  whole,  but 
must  owe  their  systematic  arrangement  to  accidents  of  an  ever-shifting 
perspective.  Much  more  then  must  this  apply  to  the  moral  world  dis- 
joined from  religion.  Instead  of  morality,  we  can  at  best  have  only  a 
scheme  of  prudence,  and  this  too  a  prudence  fallible  and  short-sighted : 
for  were  it  of  such  a  kind  as  to  be  bona  fide  coincident  with  morals  in 
reference  to  the  agent  as  well  as  to  the  outward  action,  its  first  act  would 
be  that  of  abjuring  its  own  usurped  primacy.  By  celestial  observations 
alone  'can  even  terrestrial  charts  be  constructed  scientifically.^'^ 

"I  shall  merely  state  [here]  what  my  belief  is,  concerning  the  true  evi- 
dences of  Christianity.  1.  Its  consistency  with  right  Reason,  I  consider 
as  the  outer  Court  of  the  Temple — the  common  area,  within  which  it 
stands.  2.  The  miracles,  with  and  through  which  the  Religion  was  first 
revealed  and  attested,  I  regard  as  the  steps,  the  vestibule,  and  the  portal 
of  the  Temple.  3.  The  sense,  the  inward  feeling,  in  the  soul  of  each  Be- 
liever of  its  exceeding  desirableness — the  experience  that  he  needs  some- 
thing, joined  with  the  strong  foretokening-,  that  the  Redemption  and  the 
Graces  propounded  to  us  in  Christ,  are  what  he  needs  ; — this  I  hold  to  be 
the  true  FouNDATiONjof  the  spiritual  Edifice,  With  the  strong  a  priori 
probability  that  flows  in  from  1  and  3  on  the  coiTespondent  historical  evi- 
dence of  2,  no  man  can  refuse  or  neglect  to  make  the  experiment  without 
guilt.  But,  4,  it  is  the  experience  derived  from  a  practical  conformity  to 
the  conditions  of  the  Gospel — it  is  the  opening  Eye ;  the  dawning  Light  ; 
the  terrors  and  the  promises  of  spiritual  Growth ;  the  blessedness  of  loving 
God  as  God,  the  nascent  sense  of  Sin  hated  as  Sin,  and  of  the  incapabil- 
ity of  attaining  to  either  without  Christ ;  it  is  the  sorrow  that  still  rises  up 
from  beneath,  and  the  consolation  that  meets  it  from  above  ;  the  bosom 
treacheries  of  the  Principal  in  the  warfare,  and  the  exceeding  faithfulness 
and  long-suffering  of  the  uninterested  Ally  ; — in  a  word,  it  is  the  actual 
Trial  of  the  Faith  in  Christ,  with  its  accompaniments  and  results,  that 
must  form  the  arched  Roof,  and  the  Faith  itself  is  the  completing  Key- 
stone. In  order  to  an  efficient  belief  in  Christianity,  a  man  must  have 
been  a  Christian,  and  this  is  the  seeming  argumentum  in  chculo,  incident 
to  all  spiritual  Truths,  to  every  subject  not  presentable  under  the  forms  of 
Time  and  Space,  as  long  as  we  attempt  to  master  by  the  reflex  acts  of  the 
Understanding,  what  we  can  only  know  by  the  act  of  becoming.  "Do  the 
will  of  my  Father,  and  ye  shall  know  whether  I  am  of  God."  These 
four  evidences  I  believe  to  have  been,  and  still  to  be,  for  the  world,  for 
tlie  whole  church,  all  necessary,  all  ecpially  necessaiy ;  but  that  at  present 
and  for  the  majority  of  Christians  born  in  Christian  countries,  I  believe 
the  third  and  the  fourth  evidences  to  be  the  most  operative,  not  as  super- 
seding, but  as  involving  a  glad  undoufoting  faith  in  the  two  former.    Cre- 


APPENDIX.  399 

tlidi,  ideoque  intellexi,  appeal's  to  me  the  dictate  equally  of  Pliilosoj)hy 
and  Religion,  even  aa  I  believe  Redemption  to  be  the  antecedent  of  Sane- 
tification,  and  not  its  consequent.  All  spiritual  predicates  may  be  constru- 
ed indifferently  as  modes  of  Action,  or  as  states  of  Being.  Thus  Holiness 
and  Blessedness  are  the  same  idea,  now  seen  in  relation  to  act,  and  now  to 
existence." 


ERRATA. 


P.  191,  1.  ]8,  for  "135—136."  read  13^-134. 
P.  253,  1.  2],  for  "hypostatize,"  read  hypostasize. 
^  ^^  Note  ^'^^  reference  for  p.  "157,"  read  237. 


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♦>W#?<»*,K»;»f»«l»S«H!BI»?t  ■ 

MIL. 

